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If you’re quirky and single, celebrate IQD in whatever quirky way you want (including ignoring it…)!

As Linda Sherman points out on her blog, there is no global definition for Valentine’s Day. Traditions are different by country, and some probably have never even heard about it. Reading Linda’s post, I started to wonder: where did Valentine’s Day come from? Is it a Hallmark holiday or something more profound? Apparently, the holiday is in honor of St. Valentine - it’s an old Christian holiday absorbing fertility holidays from other religions (as with all the Christian holidays, it just happens to be around the time when a non-Christian holiday was…). It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that people started exchanging Valentine’s greetings. According to Wikipedia’s entry, Valentine’s Day follows Christmas in card-sending volume.

Back in the 1400s, a Court of Love was established on Valentine’s Day, which was the first recorded celebration of V-Day. And then it disappeared again from public conscience only to be resurrected in the 1840s. It took the entrepreneurial spirit of the US to commercialize it. Interestingly, it was exchanges of cards that made up Valentine’s Day celebrations. Only in the 1980s, did the diamond industry start adding diamond giving to the mix, which had expanded from cards to chocolates and flowers.

I would argue, although it has some religious roots, Valentine’s Day has certainly been turned into a huge commercial enterprise. To celebrate it or International Quirkyalone Day in a more traditional way, we could simply express our love with a note - that would also express our love for mother earth.

February 14 us International Quirkyalone Day, not Valentine’s Day - Hallmark has it all wrong! To read more about it, check out the Quirkyalone page. Sasha Cagen, the woman who wrote the book about quirkyalone and started the movement, gives these tips for the celebration:

Ten Ways to Celebrate IQD

International Quirkyalone Day is rapidly approaching. Here are ten ways to celebrate.

1. Explore a new part of town—be a tourist in your own city.
2. Get yourself a lovely aqua Singelringen—Swedish for “the Single Ring”—as a visible reminder that you’re complete whether you’re in a relationship or not.
3. Buy yourself new underwear (throw out all the old ones from the 90s.)
4. Rearrange your furniture.
5. Be creative, doing whatever it is you like to do (write, paint, sew, upholster furniture, surf, make art of out dryer lint).
6. Be creative with friends. Have an arts and crafts party or cook a meal together.
7. Buy yourself or a friend a bunch of daisies. Daisies are the official flower of the quirkyalone movement.
9. Volunteer for a cause you believe in.
9. Get cozy in bed with a book. Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics would of course be a good choice.
10. Come to or host a quirkyalone party!

I would add:

• Buy yourself some yellow roses (after the daisies)
• Make some truffles and share them with friends
• Send a love note to yourself - this is the most traditional way of celebrating this day.

Any other ideas?

Linda brought to my attention an interview that Dr. Irene Levine did with Bella DePaulo about single women and friendship. Levine wrote a book about women and friendship - I will need to check that out! It sounds very interesting…