On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the important ceremony of breaking many taboos during the Spring Festival and welcoming the God of Wealth is carried by the people, and this day is endowed with special solemnity and anticipation. In the early morning, the sound of crackling firecrackers breaks the silence early, which is a vivid portrayal of cleansing the atmosphere of poverty and praying for blessings and fortune.
This year's Lunar New Year's Day coincides with February 14, the Western Valentine's Day, which has quickly become popular among young people since its introduction in China, especially among couples, where the exchange of Valentine's Day gifts and the sharing of candlelit dinners have become an indispensable traditional expression of strengthening emotional bonds. Merchants are keenly aware of this business opportunity, and start to create a rich romantic atmosphere early before Valentine's Day every year, and the overwhelming advertising and marketing are just to attract more customers to spend. In the streets and alleys, hawkers holding bouquets of roses have also become a unique sight.
However, Valentine's Day, which was once very lively, was unexpectedly neglected this year, and many young people showed little interest in this foreign holiday. The reason for this is that there are four factors in reality that make them choose to forget this day full of Western atmosphere, and these reasons are practical and thought-provoking.
In the minds of many young people, the celebration of Valentine's Day has become a stylized process: spending time with loved ones, exchanging carefully selected Valentine's Day gifts, and then sharing a romantic dinner or watching a movie. However, over the years, this model has gradually lost its novelty and surprise elements, which makes some young people feel bored.
On the occasion of the annual Valentine's Day meeting, businesses spare no effort to create a festive atmosphere, so as to launch a variety of **activities**, such as a couple-only hotel**, flower hampers for the occasion and themed catering for two, and ** is often higher than usual. At the same time, modern young people tend to live at home, and they feel less and less worth the increased costs caused by the holiday add-on. As a result, in the face of such a commercial Valentine's Day, more and more young people choose to treat it indifferently, and even "pretend" to ignore this festival with a seemingly casual attitude, and are no longer keen on deliberately celebrating.
In the past, every Valentine's Day, merchants were like accurate clock craftsmen, always starting the warm-up engine in advance, and tlucking at the heartstrings of consumers through overwhelming advertising and ingenious marketing gimmicks.
Nowadays, the younger generation of men and women are becoming more and more distinct in their personality expression, and they are no longer confined to the formalistic performance of Valentine's Day, but more value the emotional interaction accumulated in daily interactions. So, no matter how hard merchants try to sell and create a festive atmosphere, the number of responders is gradually decreasing, and this year's Valentine's Day in particular is no longer lively.
Young people in the new era are no longer the appearance of the first ten years in the past, with the leap in economic level and the optimization of quality of life, their horizons are increasingly broadened, and their inner self-confidence is gradually increasing. Attitudes towards foreign holidays have also changed, and the phenomenon of following the trend of festivals is slowly receding, as can be seen from the cooling of the consumer market last Christmas.
This year's February 14 coincides with the traditional "Breaking Five Festival" on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which occupies a pivotal position in the Chinese New Year, which is not only a key moment for people to break many taboos during the Chinese New Year, but also an important time to welcome the God of Wealth for financial prosperity in the coming year. In such a cultural background, Valentine's Day, which is relatively foreign, naturally seems bleak, and it is difficult to seize the limelight of traditional festivals.
This year's Spring Festival is more intense than ever, with the sound of firecrackers once again resounding in the streets and alleys, coupled with the long-lost desire for reunion among family and friends after three years of the pandemic, and the enthusiasm of young people to return to traditional culture has increased significantly. Therefore, on the special day of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, they pay more and more attention to praying for blessings and auspiciousness through the rituals of "sending the poor" and "welcoming the God of Wealth", which naturally distracts the attention to Valentine's Day, making Valentine's Day a little deserted against the backdrop of this rich New Year's flavor.
Valentine's Day is an important time for men and women to exchange gifts and express their feelings in Western countries, and when this festival was introduced to China, it gradually evolved into a phenomenon with men as the main consumer bearers. Today's young people, most of whom are only children, have grown up under the care of their families, and have independent and unique personalities, and they have long been resistant to a rigid Valentine's Day consumption pattern. Especially when the cost of dating has to be borne by one party alone, many young people begin to reflect on its value and are not willing to invest a lot of money in it, so in such days, more and more people choose to treat it coldly.
With the deepening of the younger generation's pursuit of individuality and the return to love for traditional Chinese culture, it is normal for imported foreign festivals such as Valentine's Day to gradually lose their original popularity. Especially against the backdrop of China's local Valentine's Day, which has a profound cultural heritage - the "Qixi Festival" on the seventh day of the seventh month of July, not only does this year's Valentine's Day seem relatively deserted, but it is expected that more young people will no longer be keen on this Western Valentine's Day in the future, but will prefer to inherit and celebrate the traditional festival with national characteristics.