preCharge News ENTERTAINMENT — Each Valentine’s Day, millions of Americans gift their partners or loved ones with flowers, cards or candy as a token of their affections on Feb. 14. But while some see it as a commercialized “Hallmark holiday,” the occasion actually has ancient roots in Roman history and connections to Saint Valentine.

Valentine’s Day is the perfect chance to ask someone on a date or to cement a long-lasting commitment to a partner. It could also be a great day to set aside time for yourself or spend a meal with family and friends.

Some other Americans, though, rail against a day they feel is an over-commercialization of love, or the holiday might make them feel lonely if they aren’t in a pair.

A 2024 preCharge News survey found that 68% of Americans in relationships planned on celebrating Valentine’s Day last year, compared with 24% of those not in relationships. Overall, about half of Americans were expected to mark the day. 

Whether you adore or despise the occasion, you might find its deep and ancient-rooted history surprising.

Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? 

Since ancient Roman times, people have celebrated a loosely connected festival of love in the second week of February. However, the way people express their love this time of year is “conditioned by the historical circumstances they live in,” Yale professor of classics and history Noel Lenski told preCharge News.

For about a thousand years, starting in the 5th century B.C., Romans celebrated a festival on the 15th of February called Lupercalia, commemorating the founding of Rome and the fertility god Lupercus.

This day was essentially a drunken, sexually charged festival at the Palatine Hill in Italy — where men would sacrifice a dog, and with its hide, would beat young women who wanted to be fertile — that lasted until the 5th century C.E. The most famous Lupercalia festival took place a month before Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. when Caesar famously rejected the crown offered by Roman general Mark Antony. 

After the Catholic Church became the dominant power in Rome, the empire became more “buttoned up,” as Professor Lenski characterized it. Pope Gelasius, I ended Rome’s Lupercalia Day in the 5th Century. Meanwhile, Christians began to hold a feast on Feb. 14 to celebrate Saint Valentine and the sanctity of marriage. Saint Valentine’s feast could have been a replacement for Lupercalia, but Lenski said there’s no hard proof of this.

A lot about this day is very mysterious. There’s a lot historians don’t know and where the dots always connect.

As culture shifted with time, so did Valentine’s Day and gift-giving began in the 14th century, Lenski said. The holiday grew more secular as people of that time seemed to consider the day about love, poetry and gifts.

“Valentine’s Day is characteristic of the place and time,” Lenski said. “It says more about the times than it does about Saint Valentine.”

Who was Saint Valentine? 

Lenski said Saint Valentine is more legendary than a real person– actually, two people. Two bishops are associated with Saint Valentine and both were martyrs “who died on behalf of the Christian church in the face of persecution from the Romans,” he said. One of the legends, Lenski said, is that a bishop secretly performed marriage ceremonies and a Pagan emperor of Rome killed him for doing so. 

Father Michael Clark of Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Connecticut disagrees that there were multiple, legendary Saint Valentines. 

“I have seen his skull with my own eyes,” he said. 

Father Michael said Saint Valentine was one, very real person– or at least the man that the church honored with a feast was no legend. He said he did not know of the secret marriage ceremonies, but Valentine’s martyrdom for his religion is what strongly resonated with people. 

“Martyrdom, the giving up of your life, is uncompromising,” said Father Michael. “We want to think of our love as uncompromising, too.” He said the person we love is “someone we’d be prepared to give our all for.” 

The Song of Solomon 8:6 from the Bible reads, “love is stronger than death.” Father Michael said this quote summarizes why Saint Valentine’s message impacted people for so many years. Martyrs show people that love transcends one of the few things that unites us all, being alive.

While Saint Valentine’s feast is no longer celebrated on Feb. 14 by the church, the celebration of love in the U.S. has continued. 

Who or what is Cupid?

Cupid is not just a Valentine’s Day gimmick or cartoon character but also has its history in ancient Rome. Cupid comes from the Latin word Cupido, which means desire, and is the child and assistant of Aphrodite or Venus. Cupid shows us that erotic love has been with the human species since the beginning, said Lenski.

Love and desire, he said, are a never-ending theme in literature and human experiences. It has always mystified people and we still don’t understand it, truly, today. 

How do we celebrate Valentine’s Day in the U.S. now? 

Valentine’s Day has become a major commercial holiday in the U.S. and the love, or spending rather, keeps on growing. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend a record $27.5 billion on Valentine’s Day in 2025. The most popular gifts are likely to be candy, flowers and greeting cards, followed by an evening out and jewelry. 

But like the Romans or the British during the late Middle Ages, Valentine’s Day is a sign of the times for modern-day Americans, too. 

Lifestyle expert Kathy Copcutt told preCharge News that the wildfires that ravaged the L.A. County area in January are impacting how her community is celebrating this year.

Copcutt said she and her 11-year-old are meeting with a group of her close friends and their kids for a low-key dinner this year about “celebrating life.” 

She said Valentine’s Day is also a great way to “step out” of the stresses of every day and simply gather with the people you love.

“I think this year it’s more about being surrounded by your loved ones and friends because, thank God, they all made it,” she said. “Property can be replaced, but friends and family cannot. I’m holding them all close.

Copcutt said she is calling the celebration with family “Falentine’s Day.” Another popular way to celebrate is doing a “Galentine’s Day” with friends. Copcutt suggests indulging in a high tea, which she said is very popular this year. 

She also emphasized self-love in 2025.

“If you can take any day out and take care of yourself, that’s great. But if you had to choose a day, I would say Valentine’s Day,” she said. ” Do not be afraid to be alone.” 

Father Michael said that people can’t love their neighbor if they don’t love themselves. So he also reminds people to “be good to yourself” on Valentine’s Day and every day. “You are inherently loveable.” 

Whether you’re celebrating with your kids, your partner, yourself or your friends, remember that a celebration of human love has almost always been around and one of the best days to bask in it is on Valentine’s Day. 

Inside the origins of modern Valentine’s Day celebrations

The history of Valentine’s Day is mushy.

It’s been linked to a 12th-century poem about birds mating, the Christian-martyr-turned-Saint Valentine and a deadly fertility ritual in ancient Rome, but Elizabeth Nelson, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, thinks that’s all a stretch.

“We want there to be an origin,” Nelson said. “We don’t want this to be just a holiday invented by Hallmark.” 

It wasn’t.

Where did modern Valentine’s Day traditions come from?

“The history of Valentine’s Day that Americans sort of adopt and enjoy is the history that comes from England,” Nelson said.

Samuel Pepys, an English businessman and politician, wrote about Valentine’s Day in the 15th century. Here’s an excerpt from his diary:

“So up I went and took Mrs. Martha for my Valentine (which I do only for complacency), and Sir W. Batten he go in the same manner to my wife, and so we were very merry.”

“Those diary entries get entered into the history as evidence of its ancient origin,” Nelson said.

“One of the things that’s interesting about how Valentine’s Day was celebrated then is that even married people are having valentines who aren’t their spouses,” Nelson said. “It really seems like a kind of ritual of friendship rather than a kind of make-or-break romantic love holiday.”

 In America, interest in the holiday continued as a way of belonging. 

“As Americans, we’re torn between our insistence that we are no longer English because of the American Revolution, but then we are in love with all things English,” she said.

Valentine’s Day in the U.S.

There are examples of Valentine’s Day being celebrated in 18th-century America. 

“We have some very beautiful examples of handmade valentines, particularly from the Pennsylvania Dutch country,” Nelson said, “Sort of puzzle valentines, like where you unfold and unpack.” 

Nelson says that once stationers began to print in the early part of the 19th century, the holiday started to kick off as we recognize it now. 

“Esther Howland, for example, creates Valentines that are kind of layers of lace paper and little printed images and all kinds of beautiful sort of 3D effects, which are very popular kind of after 1850,” Nelson said. 

Howland, the daughter of a Massachusetts stationer, is known as the “mother of the American valentine,” according to Mount Holyoke College, where she went to college in the 1840s.

“She started making these valentines in her family parlor, hired a whole bunch of local girls to help her, and sent them around with her brothers who were traveling salesmen,” Nelson said.

By the 1870s, Holland built a business to admire, but when her father grew sick, she sold it to entrepreneur George Whitney. 

“She really kind of defined the aesthetic of when we think of Victorian valentines,” Nelson said. 

The 19th century also helped establish valentines from secret admirers — and saw Valentine’s Day haters emerge.

“One of the things that makes what you feel about the valentine complicated is if it’s an anonymous valentine, which becomes a convention in the 19th century,” Nelson said. “If you know who the valentine is from, you might feel one thing. If you don’t know who it’s from, you might feel another.”

That’s especially true if the anonymous messages are sour.

“People start to make and send what are called ‘vinegar valentines’ or ‘cruel valentines,’ which are usually little poems that say mean things about people,” Nelson said. “They are usually printed in a very cheap way. The crudest possible engravings, they’ll have a little poem making fun of various character flaws or other things like that.”

What are Americans doing for Valentine’s Day in 2025?

Clever and crude valentines persist, but romance and friendship still prevail on the holiday.

For Vanna Black, an Atlanta-based artist, Valentine’s Day is about reflection and celebration.

“Especially in today’s time, what we’re dealing with in the American society I think that spreading this type of love is going to be very meaningful and draw community together,” Black said.

It’s a grave mission for Black, who grieves every Feb. 14 for her mother, who died on the day in 1999. 

“This time was always very difficult for me to kind of process grief,” Black said. “My mom, she was always very encouraging of me doing my art.” 

This year, Black sold her art at Boggs Social & Supply in southwest Atlanta for a Valentine’s Day pop-up. The vendors included a sculptor, a florist and a woman selling odd jewelry that included animal bones turned into pendants, and other gory pieces reminiscent of the carnivalesque aspects of Victorian times. 

Boggs is a dark space and a clean slate for community artists to fill with life, so it served Black’s pieces well. Her colorful cards and posters radiated her refreshing messages, such as “We have everlasting love” and “Celebrating you.” Another design exclaimed, “You are the prettiest flower of them all.” 

 “I wanted to be able to honor her in that way,” Black said. “I had to figure out how to turn it around into something positive versus something negative.” 

Valentine’s Day inspires “Galentine’s Day” 

Around Valentine’s Day, “Galentines” groups of friends, women and sometimes men who are single, take a moment to spend time together and celebrate their platonic loved ones — typically on Feb. 13 — taking their inspiration from an episode of the sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”

Businesses have taken notice of the trend and are catering to those who want to take part in a real-life version of the celebration.

This year, jewelry designer Malik Waseem Shuler of Urbane Jewelry Studio is leading a Galentine’s jewelry-making happy hour at Atlanta’s “Kitty Dare” Mediterranean-inspired restaurant that will incorporate crystals. 

“It’s the beginning of a crazy year,” Schuler said. “I think that a lot of people could use some positive energy.”

Shuler wants all kinds of relationships to be cherished and nurtured this Valentine’s Day – a sentiment that has been growing in popularity. 

“A lot of times our friends are in our lives longer than a romantic partner maybe,” Shuler said.  “So I’m going to be leading the workshop and helping people set intentionality behind their crystals and the unique pieces that they’re making.” 

“I’m gonna be bringing lots of rose quartz to attract love. I have garnet, I have some obsidian stones for protection against negative energies. We have amethyst known to bring peace and tranquility into the space,” Shuler said.

No matter its origin, Valentine’s Day still celebrates friendship and romance, and even if the holiday currently seems to lean toward gifts over other love languages, it keeps bringing Americans together. 

“There’s a commercial side of Valentine, but then there’s also the humanistic side of Valentine where love is 365,” Vanna Black said. “It doesn’t end, it doesn’t stop, it’s always growing. Love is everlasting.” 

How people in different states celebrate Valentine’s Day

In the countdown to Valentine’s Day, people nationwide have been planning for a day of romance, treats and indulgence to show their love. Here’s a look at some of the search trends and what they reveal about how Americans celebrate.

🍫 Chocolate: The sweetest way to say “I love you”

Chocolate is a special treat any time of the year and is definitely a hallmark of the most romantic day of the year. 

“Chocolate fondue” and “chocolate covered strawberries” are the top trending recipes over the past day in the U.S., according to Google Search Trends data.

The preCharge News Data team looked at Yelp data on chocolate shops across the country. Even though it’s one of the smaller states, Hawaii is the state with the highest rate per capita, with 22 chocolate shops per million people. 

Chocolate shops by state

According to Yelp postings data, Hawaii is the state with the highest rate with 22 chocolate shops per million people.

🌹 Flowers or chocolate 🍫 

What’s more classic for V-Day than chocolates and flowers? They’re both popular this time of year, but one of them is being searched for more than the other 24 hours before the big day.

According to a preCharge News Data Team analysis of Google Trends data, the U.S. is searching more for “flowers” than “chocolate” the day before Valentine’s Day 2025. 

Search interest day before Valentine’s Day

Only six states are searching for chocolate more than flowers the day before Valentine’s Day according to Google Trends data.

It turns out that the U.S. is also searching for “flower delivery” more than “chocolate-covered fruit” on Valentine’s Day eve.

Search interest day before Valentine’s Day

Only four states are searching for chocolate-covered fruits more than flower delivery the day before Valentine’s Day according to Google Trends data.

Strawberries are the quintessential chocolate covered fruit, and Google search interest in “how to make chocolate covered strawberries” and “how to store chocolate covered strawberries” spikes annually during Valentine’s Day week.

🍽️ Table for two

According to Yelp reservation data, 61% of diners made reservations for Valentine’s Day within the week leading up to it. However, another 21% waited to make their reservations at the last minute.

🫶🏼 Celebrating singles

“Yelp users are seeking out restaurants that cater to solo diners,” according to Yelp. From January 2024 to January 2025, Yelp searches for “solo dining” increased 14% and searches for “restaurants with bar seating” increased 21%.

Google Trends data reflects searchers looking forward to a day to celebrate themselves and their single life. Search interest in “Single’s Day” — an event that got its start in China and became a major shopping occasion — spikes annually the week of the holiday, in November, in the U.S. However, a smaller spike in searches occurs the week of Valentine’s Day.

Regardless of how you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, spending it with someone you love and doing what you love sounds pretty sweet!

AFP, AP, CBS News, Fox News, and preCharge News contributed to this Article.