Of course, I will be celebrating St. Valentine’s Day. I’m Ukrainian and if there is one thing we know how to do well it is to celebrate. Celebrations and feasts are central to a person’s psychological health, which is why I use any opportunity to celebrate. Often, N. and I have celebrations for things like “The First Tuesday This Week” or “The Last February This Year.” And you don’t need a lot to celebrate. You don’t really need company or money. One can celebrate perfectly well over a baked potato (but it has to be baked well, of course. No foil!).
This is why people who begrudge themselves an opportunity to enjoy a festive occasion seem weird to me. Who cares that the holiday “has been commercialized” (the dreaded passive voice again)? If you have problems with commerce, then don’t buy anything. There are many great gifts that can be offered (both to others and to oneself) with no money outlay.
And if you have had a really horrible day, that’s all the more reason to celebrate. Celebrate that this bad day is finally over and that you have managed to get through it. If you don’t have a partner on St. Valentine’s Day, then celebrate that you are not in a bad relationship and have your options open to meet somebody great or to enjoy a perfectly happy single existence.
The idea that St. Valentine’s Day “makes single people feel incomplete” sounds completely bizarre to me. If you don’t feel incomplete, nobody can make you feel so. Nobody can make you feel anything because your feelings come from inside you. I always celebrated this holiday when I was single and loved it. I gave myself flowers and cute little gifts because one’s love for oneself should always be central to one’s life.
Now that I’m not single any more, I also have not experienced being “pressured to be a certain way” by this holiday. Seriously, if you are past the age of 14 and you can still be pressured by cheesy chocolate commercials to be or not to be a certain way, then you have issues that are far more serious than any single holiday. What can be more fun than creating one’s own traditions with one’s partner and celebrating things in a way that is unique to you?
A holiday is what you make it. And depriving yourself of a chance to celebrate because of what some strangers you haven’t even met do or don’t do is extremely weird.
Have a happy St. Valentine’s Day and a very happy first Tuesday this week!
Clarissa's Blog 
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