Singles Awareness Day (or Singles Appreciation Day) is celebrated on February 15 each year.[1] It is an unofficial holiday celebrated by single people. It serves as a complement to Valentine's Day for people who are not married or in a romantic relationship. It is a celebration of love in all forms recognizing the love between friends, family and loving yourself.[2] Some people who observe Singles Awareness Day do so out of spite for Valentine's Day, as a Hallmark holiday, or for other reasons.[3]
Singles Awareness Day is also referred to as an antithesis of Valentine's Day, especially when celebrated on February 14.[3][4] It is also known by the acronym SAD particularly when negatively observed about the inability to find love.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom has two days 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.[5][4][6]
On Singles Awareness Day, single people gather to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. Some want to remind romantic couples that they don't need to be in a relationship to celebrate life.[4][7]
History
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Valentine's Day is celebrated every year on 14 February, and the next day on 15 February, Singles Awareness Day is celebrated.
It is said that Single Awareness Day[8] was born because of social isolation. In 2001, a high school student named Dustin Barns decided to form a group with his friends so that instead of wallowing in the sorrows of being singles, they could use a day to celebrate singleness.[9] They chose February 15 as a protest against Valentine's Day and started selling candies and chocolates at a huge discount. The aim was to inform as many people as possible about this day.
Dustin passed this tradition from high school to Mississippi State University where it got very popular. Because of this, February 15 was copyrighted in 2015 as Single Awareness Day,[10] and since then this day became popular all over the world.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "SINGLES AWARENESS DAY – February 15". Nationaldaycalendar.com. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
- ^ National Singles Day US (14 February 2017). "Beyond Romance". NationalSinglesDayUS.org. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Quinn Dombrowski (14 February 2015). "20 Ways to Treat Yourself on Singles Awareness Day". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- ^ "New UK Dating Fair Brings Singles & Brands Together To Mark National Singles Day". Global Dating Insights. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ "What is Singles Awareness Day and why do people celebrate it?". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- ^ "Singles Awareness Day Is The S.A.D. Alternative To Valentine's Day". The Huffington Post. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- ^ "Who Started Singles Awareness Day". Dictionary.com. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Why Singles Awareness Day Started". Times Now News. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Singles Awareness Day". flexincart.com. 13 October 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
Further reading
edit- Sharp, Elizabeth A.; Ganong, Lawrence (July 2011). "'I'm a Loser, I'm Not Married, Let's Just All Look at Me': Ever-Single Women's Perceptions of Their Social Environment". Journal of Family Issues. 32 (7): 956–980. doi:10.1177/0192513X10392537. S2CID 146368386.
- Close, Angeline; Zinkhan, George (2007). "Consumer Experiences and Market Resistance: an Extension of Resistance Theories". ACR North American Advances. 34: 256–262.
- Passmore, Dillan (13 February 2017). "Happy Singles Awareness Day". The Utah Statesman. pp. 4–5.