By Munazza Abbasi

It's the time of the year where Cupid gets to work piercing through the worries and tensions of daily lives to bring smiles to many faces.

Candy hearts, red roses, candlelit dinners finished off with a box of Thornton’s chocolates shared on the couch, wipe the frowns from many foreheads and bring cheerful times.

February 14 accumulates masses of reasons for celebration. And with the Chinese New Year of the Tiger falling on Valentines this year, there is more reason to celebrate for some.

But how much consideration is really put behind the rationale of celebrating the day?

Valentine’s Day is thought to have become associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages when courtly love flourished. The day is named after two of the numerous early Christian martyrs named Valentine.

Rumours around the origins of Valentine’s Day signal the execution of a Roman Priest, Saint Valentine, on February 14 for tying knots with many girls on the day.

Whilst in prison, the Priest signed off a farewell letter to his latest love, the jailer’s daughter, as: “From your Valentine.”

Gradually, the day was marked by lovers sending poems and simple gifts, such as flowers to commemorate Saint Valentine.

These days, even the most extravagant getaways and luxurious gifts do not seem enough for some.

But where some let their hair down on the day, others think it is the least romantic day of the year, and pity the men buying flowers and chocolate for their sweetheart, just because everyone else is doing it.

So is Valentine’s Day a celebration or has it evolved into an obligation? What encourages us to celebrate the day? RiverOnline asked Kingston University students for their views.

Elaine Barry, a third year Marine and Freshwater Biology student thought it was a mere obligation.

The 21 year old said: “People do think it is a celebration, but it has become an obligation because you are pressured by adverts everywhere to go and buy chocolates and roses for someone you love.”

Helen Metcalf, a MSC Phsychology student said: “We should not be like performing monkeys on Valentine’s Day, being told what to do.

 “Something that should be romantic is far too commercial. It is hard to resist the media stuff, which makes you want to do something special,” Miss Metcalf added.

So, with the origins of the celebration so uncertain, 70 per cent of the Kingston University students surveyed said the occasion was definitely a day for celebration, but all the respondents thought media was the main factor shaping the discourse of Valentine’s that dominates so heavily today.

MA student Greg Harradine, 21, had mixed feelings about the day, saying: “Its fun to get a chance to do something special for someone, it is nice to have an actual day for it.

“I really don’t like the part media has to play in it. I don’t want to be told how to spend my day, but I won’t be affected by it” he added.

Where three quarters of the respondents said girls see celebrating Valentine’s more of an obligation, some were of the view that it generally is harder for men.

Eric Vincent, 24, a Maths and Economics student, said: “It is harder for us guys, because we are the ones that have to spend the money.”

Beata Bento, part time supervisor of Kingston’s Clinton Cards, which is the largest specialist retailer of Valentine's merchandise, said: “In my experience, I think girls are more adventurous and boys think more traditionally when they are buying gifts.”

Where boys mostly buy cards and teddy bears on Valentine’s Day, girls opt for the playing cards and toys, she said.

Miss Bento said: “We expect Valentine’s sales to rise this year, just as they do every year.”

The more one attempts to understand the historical legitimacy of the occasion, the clearer it becomes that 14^th February has quite noticeably become a money making scheme that has spun out of control through excessive media exposure.