Singles Awareness Day

Singles Awareness Day (or Singles Appreciation Day, or SAD) is an unofficial holiday celebrated each February 15.[1][2]

Holiday

Singles Awareness Day is the flip-side to Valentine's Day meant for those without a romantic attachment.[3][1] It is a celebration of love in other forms recognizing the love between friends, family and even loving yourself.[4] People who observe Singles Awareness Day reportedly may do so out of spite for Valentine's Day, as a Hallmark holiday, or for other reasons.[3]

On Singles Awareness Day, single people gather to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. It also reminds romantic couples that they don't need to be in a relationship to celebrate life.[1][5]

History

According to Dictionary.com, the invention of SAD is often credited to journalist Julian Barnes. According to Barnes, he and fellow high school friends invented the idea in 2001 as a sort of joke to celebrate that they were single, in reaction to Valentines day on February 14, when all supposedly non-single people celebrated their attachments. It comes one day after Valentine's Day, poignantly because this is when unsold candy hearts and other affections of love go on sale.[6][7] They eventually started capitalizing on their idea in a more literal sense by selling cheap candies and chocolates.

In the United Kingdom, two days are attributed to highlighting single status. Since Single Awareness Day spells "SAD" and a group of dating experts wanted to highlight a more positive tone, they established National Singles Day. It is celebrated on 11 March with the aim to empower those who identify themselves as single.[8][1][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kirkham, Elyssa (14 February 2015). "20 Ways to Treat Yourself on Singles Awareness Day". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Singles Awareness Day – February 15". Nationaldaycalendar.com. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b Treye Green (14 February 2014). "Singles Awareness Day: 20 Anti-Valentine's Day Quotes For Singles". International Business Times. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  4. ^ National Singles Day US (14 February 2017). "Beyond Romance". NationalSinglesDayUS.org. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  5. ^ "Singles Awareness Day Is The S.A.D. Alternative To Valentine's Day". The Huffington Post. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  6. ^ "Who Started Singles Awareness Day". Dictionary.com. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Why Singles Awareness Day Started". Times Now News. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  8. ^ "New UK Dating Fair Brings Singles & Brands Together To Mark National Singles Day". Global Dating Insights. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  9. ^ "What is Singles Awareness Day and why do people celebrate it?". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 February 2018.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.