A guide to this holiday for those of us who don't believe

For those of us who do not believe in whatever the hype is all about, Valentine’s is a fraud, something that we do not understand and will not be pressured into spending money over.

To start with, the idea behind setting aside the 14th of February every year to celebrate love is based on half-truths and questionable storylines.

Who exactly is this Valentine person?

Valentine’s Day is supposed to be in memory of St. Valentine, a clergyman, who as the story goes, secretly arranged marriages between Roman men and their lovers.

ALSO READ: Five things that may ruin Valentine's Day for you and your boo

It is said that, at the time, the Roman army would not conscript married men, so St. Valentine became the patron of defiant, forbidden love.

Someone needs to come forward and claim responsibility for this story because it turns out, like the Nike Sneakers for sale for 15k on Instagram Nigeria, it was fabricated and sold as the real thing.

Numerous persons named Valentine were killed for the Christian faith in those early years. Valentine’s, in its most Christian form, celebrates two people: St Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni.

The man from Rome is more important. The story goes that he was a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for succouring persecuted Christians.

It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person.

Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life.

Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed.

Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. He wrote a letter to Julia before he died, which he supposedly signed "From your Valentine".

Today, it is referred to as the first Valentine’s day letter.

Why does this all smell like a scam?

ALSO READ: 10 romantic photos you can send to your partner this holiday

Because Valentine’s Day wasn’t associated with love until the 14th Century. The first recorded instance where someone put romantic love and what used to be a Christian holiday in the same sentence was in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer.

How we came from that to an entire movement that proscribes delivering plastic roses and underwear, depending on your tax bracket, is beyond me. But, at least we know who wins most in all of this.

My love, there's rice at home

Valentine’s is one of those holidays that has become more about the consumerism and the act of buying than showing actual love, or whatever the hell it is you people do when you’re huddled up sharing ice cream that was deliberately packaged for one person.

Love, in all its many forms, is a good feeling. For many couples who do not have the time, this one day places the focus on what they share and lets either party show and celebrate their affection for the other.

In some cases, one party is not as sensitive to the other’s needs as they should. It takes threats from vendors on Instagram and a bevvy of love songs to send them the message; and finally it dawns on them, "I'm not in a relationship with myself; this person needs to be appreciated".

Still, what good does it serve to celebrate love on a day when everything is overpriced and it’s difficult to see a gesture beyond how much it costs?

So what should you do?

Nothing. That’s if you’re single though.

For those of us who don’t care and God has been nice enough to give someone who cares enough about us to let us be their partner, every day should be Valentine's.

It is why, today, I’m taking my girl for some Ice cream, talking about life and laughing at people when their white and red gets stained.