It’s hard to miss Valentine’s Day due to the strong culture surrounding the holiday, complemented by multitudes of stores’ aisles filled by heart-shaped pink decor, flowers, stuffed animals, chocolates, and much more. Despite this, not everyone recognizes St. Valentine, the one who possibly catalyzed the now known “Valentines Day” into existence.
In one legend, validated by history.com, a certain St. Valentine made love possible. In this specific tale, Valentine acted as a priest in the third century, when Emperor Claudius II believed a strong army to weigh as a higher priority than young love, forbidding young men from marriage in hopes of prompting those men to join the army.
Claudius’s actions, however, could not prevent St. Valentine from vouching for young passion as he officiated young lovers’ weddings behind closed doors. Not long ensuing St. Valentine’s actions were revealed, and Claudius decided upon no greater punishment than to sentence St. Valentine to execution.
However, the celebration of Valentine’s began, whether by St. Valentine evoking a generation inspired by love or by card companies yearning for yet another holiday to draw in consumers; the US celebrates the holiday on a large scale.
If one is lucky, a significant other would bring them a sweet gift and handwritten card to remind them of all the joy they bring into their lives and all the love they hold for the other. However, that would leave all the single ladies and available bachelors reflecting on what could have been that February 14th, if only.
That is, until Galentine’s came in hot.
A new stance on this long tradition is for students, mainly girls, to expand the holiday to appreciate not only love for their possible significant other but for friends and family as well. TikTok may have been the ultimate Galentine’s marketer, pushing for girls to craft a “cutie” and “aesthetic” get-together with their friends to expand the holiday to those left without a partner to celebrate.
This trend appeared largely at Wilsonville this year, with Galentine’s Instagram posts filling everyone’s feed. Junior Milan DelaCruz says, “I really enjoy Galentines because it’s a fun time with friends and it’s not as much pressure as making Valentine’s day all about getting a valentine.”
Hannah Beckley, a junior at Wilsonville, adds to this statement, saying, “I think Galentines is a good newer tradition and I like the twist it gives to traditional Valentine’s Day. Also, the posts are cute.”
Many in the younger generation have brought new traditions to more holidays than just Valentine’s Day, expanding the traditions to include celebrations with friends. Whether this be by hosting a Christmas charcuterie board get-together or an Easter brunch, TikTok and other social media platforms encourage friends to hang out and snap a few cute flicks.
So, for Galentine’s at least, these encouraged friend extravaganzas have percolated into Wilsonville’s community as the hot new trend.