Betsy Carreno
Copy Editor
For many people, Valentine’s Day is centered around celebrating romantic love. Recently, however, a different approach has been taken when Galentine’s Day was introduced.
Galantine’s Day is an unofficial holiday with your closest “gals” (or friends) celebrating the love and friendship you have for each other. The new sensation of Galantine’s Day started when the term was first used in the show “Parks and Recreation” in Season 2, episode 16, with the main character Leslie Knope. The episode was first aired on Feb. 11, 2010.
While there usually is an expectation associated with how to celebrate Valentine’s Day, there is no right way to celebrate Galantine’s Day. Whether you want to go out to eat dinner with your friends, have a movie night, or bake a heart-shaped pizza, anything is perfect to honor the people that you love.
Although gifts aren’t necessary for this holiday, some ideas of gift giving for your friends would be writing them a letter, giving them chocolates, or buying them flowers. My personal favorite is giving them something that reminds them of an inside joke you have together.
When asking Arleth Arana, a DU student, her thoughts on Galentine’s Day, this is what she had to say, “My experience during Galentine’s Day was so heartwarming! The day was truly such a sweet celebration of sisterhood, and I feel like the entire day just made me feel close to my friends and my inner child.”
While other cultures don’t celebrate Galantine’s Day, in some places, like Mexico, they see Valentine’s Day as “El Día del Amor y la Amistad,” which would be translated to “The day of love and friendship.” In these different cultures, Valentine’s Day is already regarded as a day to expand love to everyone.
As for me, I think Galantine’s Day is a nice way to celebrate the people that are close to your heart. The initiative to express all types of love on one holiday is something everyone should do more often than not.
“It is a nice celebration of platonic love,” Arana said, and I couldn’t agree more.
