Valentine’s Day is a time when love is celebrated and at the forefront of everyone’s mind. This holiday, while centered around couples, also encourages people to celebrate love amongst friends. Friends may write each other little notes of appreciation, bring homemade desserts for all to try, or get together to spend quality time with one another. This gathering of friends is referred to as Galentine’s.
On the weekend of Feb. 14, many female Wesleyan students and teachers got together with their friends to have their own Galentine festivities where they participated in a range of activities from having dinner parties to playing games and taking photos together. Since Wesleyan’s winter break fell on the same weekend as Valentine’s Day, these Galentine’s events were able to take place from Friday Feb. 13 through Tuesday Feb. 17, giving friends more opportunities to celebrate the holiday.
For sophomore girls grade chair and English teacher Emily Zavitz, the long weekend allowed her to travel to Big Sky, Montana for a Galentine’s trip with her two best friends from college, Christy and Meagan. Zavitz said, “Just to spend really good quality girl time with two people I’ve known for a really long time was fun.” Zavitz has been friends with Christy for 22 years and Meagan for 16 years, but Zavitz said this was “the first time we’ve been able to travel together.” While on their trip, Zavitz and her friends spent time shopping in downtown Bozman and Big Sky, having dinner together and talking for hours, going to a natural hot spring in Bozman, hiking in Highlight Canyon which is part of the Bridger mountain range, and skiing in Big Sky. Zavitz said she looks forward to doing another girl’s trip with her friends in the future and that it was “really cool to see a part of the country I’ve never seen before.”
Like Zavitz, some Wesleyan students also traveled out of the state for Galentine’s trips, but many these gatherings took place at a friend’s house. Senior Fiona Callahan and her friends had a pasta party where each person brought their favorite pasta sauce for the group to choose from. Callahan and her friends met at senior Rhiannon Clary’s house on Tuesday Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. and spent their time together writing Valentine’s notes for each other, eating pasta, and taking photos together with a digital camera. Callahan said this was a tradition for her friends as “we’ve been doing Galentine’s parties together since freshmen year.”
Whether you are in a relationship or not, Valentine’s Day can still be a time of celebration for everyone. Galentine’s events serve as a reminder that love doesn’t only come from romantic relationships, but from relationships with the friends we surround ourselves with each day. “It is an opportunity eat delicious food and spend time with friends on a day usually only about couples,” Callahan said.
