Gunn community shares Valentine’s Day experiences

Valentine’s Day has been celebrated for centuries on Feb. 14. Typically, people exchange chocolates, flowers and love with their significant other. While several traditions have come and gone over time, the origins of the day remain unclear. Multiple folktales explaining the origin of the mysterious holiday do exist, however, none are definite.

One of the most common folktales claims that Saint Valentine was a priest in third century Rome. At the time, Emperor Claudious II believed that many of the soldiers with wives and families were more susceptible in battle so he prohibited his soldiers from getting married. Saint Valentine saw how many soldiers were unhappy and decided to marry them off in secret. Furious, Claudius II executed Saint Valentine on Feb. 14, but the Roman soldiers appreciated Valentine’s help so much that they continued to celebrate his fight for love through the holiday we know as Valentine’s Day. Today, the holiday is celebrated by many around the world. Despite its world-wide recognition, Valentine’s Day is celebrated differently depending on the location. At Gunn, the Student Executive Council (SEC) coordinates Love Week. Love Week is a week-long event with Valentine’s Day themed games and events. SEC holds recurring events such as Match-o-Matics and Love Ceremony photo booths annually, but they also come up with new events to add. Special Events Commissioner junior Ruth Jaquette is in charge of planning Love Week this year and believes that it’s a good way for students to meet more people in a platonic way, rather than solely romantically. “What’s really cool about Love Week at Gunn is that you can meet new people and do things with people who you are already close with,” she said.“Currently we’re thinking of doing an event sort of similar to how in Paris, they have locks on the bridges. We’re thinking of having these paper locks across the second story of the P-building.”