Valentine’s Day has always been looked at as a day of love, filled with gifts for your significant other and new relationships to start. But now, people have started to look at Valentine’s Day in a different way.

Valentine’s Day dates all the way back to the 14th century. The day first originated as a Christian feast to honor a martyr named Valentine, but later became a commercial celebration of romance.

Valentine’s Day traditions include giving roses or other flowers to your significant other, purchasing a card and writing a heartfelt message in it, giving chocolates to someone you love or sharing a candle light dinner. But do people really still want flowers and chocolates?

“I would like to receive a nice card from someone important to me telling me nice things about myself,” sophomore Chris Chatzis said. “Or some kind of chocolates.” 

Although the day has always been looked at as a day of love, many studies have shown that couples are more likely to break up during the weeks before and after Valentine’s Day. In fact, relationships that are unstable are almost five times more likely to break up during the holiday.

Even though many people who are in relationships enjoy the Valentine’s Day traditions, single people tend to feel lonely on the holiday. Over time people have realized that just because you’re not in a relationship you can still have fun, hence names for this such as “Galentines” or “Palentines.”

“I would much rather just spend the day with my girlfriends,” freshman Marlee Koehler said. “I think that Valentine’s [Day] is a great excuse to just get together with friends and have a day doing whatever we want.” 

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated worldwide in classrooms and out of school. Each and every part of the world has different ways of celebrating the day of love.