Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world, but why? Often, we just spend the day with loved ones, eating chocolate, and not really considering what this holiday even means.

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While it’s easy to assume this holiday started because of love, really, we are commemorating someone’s death. St. Valentine was a holy priest in Rome who was beheaded under Emperor Claudius II’s reign. That’s the technical reason as to why we celebrate this day. However, legend has it that St. Valentine was marrying couples in secrecy because Emperor Claudius forbade it- he thought young unmarried men were the best candidates to become soldiers. When St. Valentine was caught he was sent right to prison before his sentence to death, but there he found love with the jailer’s daughter. Before his death, he left her a letter that he signed, “from your Valentine.” St. Valentine was executed on February 14, a day the Pope declared Valentine’s Day to honor St. Valentine. Because of the highly socially accepted legend, Valentine’s Day is a holiday used to celebrate love in honor of commending what St. Valentine died for.

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Valentine’s Day in the middle ages was very much celebrated the way America does now. The first known “celebration” was when Charles, Duke of Orleans sent a Valentine card to his wife while he was held prisoner following the Battle of Agincourt. From that point on, couples spent their holiday sending cards and chocolates. We know the cards are sent to remember St. Valentine, but why send sweets? Chocolate has been known as an aphrodisiac and a “food of the gods” since Valentine’s Day became a holiday. America has kept this tradition a long-standing one as many people still celebrate their Valentine’s Day this way.

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Savannah Kaschak, junior marketing major and MIS minor student at Behrend, says she normally gets chocolate and cards for her boyfriend and this year won’t be different. “Our big thing is we just order junk food, including a lot of chocolate, and just hangout.”  A lot of couples took the idea of love and spun it into their own traditions, while some go out to celebrate at a restaurant. Others like Savannah and her boyfriend spend their day just hanging out.

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Plenty of people don’t even spend Valentine’s Day with a significant other, they just spend it with the people they love. Taylor Montagna, sophomore secondary math education and mathematics major at Behrend, says “I’ll probably just grab food and see a movie with my best friends on Valentine’s Day, make it a girl’s night.”

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This holiday is becoming more known for spending it with anyone you love, which is how the term “Galentine’s Day” came about. One of the more modern ways females are finding to devote this day is with their best friends. Instead of focusing on trying to find a guy or a girl to spend it with, they are focused on “ladies celebrating ladies.” This phrase started off as a joke but took a real turn when people realized you don’t need to just spend a day loving your partner when you have friends around too. So, whether you’re spending this Valentine’s Day with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or you and your best friends are having a “Galentine’s Day,” at least know you will be able to know what, or who, you’re honoring!