Every Feb. 14, for centuries, the United States has celebrated Valentine’s Day (also known as St. Valentine’s Day), named after a man whom according to history . He was a Roman priest, who disagreed with the emperors law against marriage for young men and performed marriage ceremonies secretly to defy the emperor, because his belief for love was so strong. This then led to his death. However, this is only one of the theories on how Valentine’s Day came about.

When many people were younger, they may have celebrated Valentine’s Day in class by being assigned to go home and prepare a decorated box. This box was to be filled with Valentines cards that had cute little sayings on them like ¨be mine” or ¨call me¨ which everyone in class created. They may have even had little pieces of candy taped onto them. This activity made kids feel special and most kids loved to go home with a sweet message from everyone in their class (and maybe even their crush).

Some people believe that Valentine’s Day was solely created by candy companies or florists to boost business for the month of February. Makayla Wilson, a senior at Central Kitsap High School who spent her Valentines Day eating ice cream with her “gal pals,” is one of these critics. She claims that Valentines Day shouldn’t be considered such an important holiday, because “it was created by large businesses to make money and make single people feel lonely.” Grace Dumars, who is also a senior at Central Kitsap High School, believes that Valentine’s Day is only fun when you have a “someone special.”

Many people only see Valentine’s Day as a day that is only celebrated with a significant other or a crush. However, Valentine’s Day is a day meant to celebrate love, whether it is the love for a significant other, or love for a family member or friend.