By Faith Munanie
Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated every February 14. This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Friday. Some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial, a saint who was martyred around A.D. 270.
Others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
Read More >The origin of Valentine's Day.
Every February 14th, couples worldwide celebrate Valentine’s Day with grand romantic gestures, expensive gifts, and public displays of affection. But not everyone is on board with the occasion. A growing number of people are rejecting Valentine’s Day altogether, calling it a corporate invention, an exclusionary tradition, and even a source of unnecessary pressure.
For many, Valentine’s Day has lost its supposed meaning of love and romance, instead becoming a commercialized spectacle designed to boost sales for businesses. Many students at Chuka University, have spent over $10 buying flowers, chocolates, and jewellery to impress their partners. While this might have been done in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, it has built a culture where love is measured on monetary value rather than genuine emotions.
"I don’t believe in Valentine’s Day because gifts and one-day flowers cannot compare to true love,” says Gavin Kipkorir a student at Chuka University. Love has become more of an obligation and it should be expressed through actions, care, and genuine effort, not just with material gifts. True love is about consistency, understanding, and emotional connection rather than meeting societal expectations and doing it because of peer pressure.
Dennis Elvis a student at Chuka University says, "Love should be celebrated every day, not just on Valentine’s Day. True love means always showing care, appreciation, and effort in relationships whether with a partner, family, or friends. Waiting for one specific day to show love can make it feel like a routine or forced”.
Some people think Valentine’s Day is more than just about spending money, it also supports old-fashioned ideas about relationships. Traditionally, the day focused on one-man, one-woman couples’ and left out people who didn’t fit that idea. Modern trends try to include everyone however, many still feel left out by the way the holiday is usually celebrated.
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As attitudes shift, alternative celebrations like Singles’ Awareness Day and Galentine’s Day are gaining traction. More people are choosing to spend the day practising self-love, spending time with friends, or simply treating it as any other day. Valentine’s Day is popular, but some people wonder if it really matters. Those who don’t celebrate it believe love is not just about giving chocolates and flowers on one day. Instead, they think love should be real and shown every day of the year.
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