If you are reading this right now, congratulations! You have successfully made it through the holiday season alive. Your wallet is empty but all that love is going to that “someone special” in the form of roses, chocolate or a teddy bear.

Between Halloween and Valentine’s Day there are many holidays. Most of which  originally started out as a holiday that was significant for more than showing someone that you cared for or loved them. Slowly, over time some of these holidays have been transformed into days associated with the concept of love and with meaningless merchandise.

Valentine’s Day has been dated to have started in the 5th Century Rome because of the martyr and priest St. Valentine. St. Valentine was an advocate of love and forbidden love, coming from the fact that he would hold wedding ceremonies for soldiers who were forbidden to marry.

St. Valentine’s death on February 14 is what created Valentine’s Day. In Medieval time secret love between members of nobility was expressed.  It was not until the Middle Ages when Geoffrey Chaucer associated love with flowers, chocolates, and cards.

Since then, Valentine’s Day has slowly but surely turned into the holiday you see today.  Today it is more about the gifts than the actual expression of love in its true form.

It seems like from the end of Christmas until Valentine’s Day actually happens, big companies are already trying to get your attention,  whether that be through TV commercials or through catalogs showing up in your mail. Whatever form of media Valentine’s Day advertisements may travel through eventually everyone will know that Valentine’s Day is coming and you need to get something (preferably expensive) for that person that you truly care about.

If you are a female on this very special day good news! Essentially all you have to do is sit back, relax and effortlessly watch those sweet gifts come right at you. On the other hand, if you are a man you probably have gotten used the sound of the cash register ringing you up over the past couple weeks because you’re the one that has to spend money on that “someone special.”

Money has changed this beautiful day into one of the most commercialized holidays of the year. Your wallet might be a little light today, but hey, at least all that money made someone happy.