Galentine’s Day

Transcript: Galentine’s Day

Couples around the world have for centuries celebrated Valentine’s Day, which falls on February 14. In the United States, the day before Valentine’s Day has in recent years become a holiday, too.

For the past decade and a half, women in the U.S. have gathered with their friends on February 13 to celebrate what is known as “Galentine’s Day.” Whether the women have romantic partners or not, Galentine’s Day is an opportunity to honor female friendship. It’s “meant to be about empowerment and uplifting one another,” People magazine explained last year.

Unlike Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day is not an official holiday. But it has become equally important in the public conscience – particularly as young Americans struggle with dating.

American women are outpace sb.jmdn. übertreffen, jmdn. hinter sich lassenoutpacing their male counterpartPendantcounterparts in achievement and income – and, among heterosexual women, fewer are seeking to settle for male partners they don’t consider good enough. Only 34 percent of single women in the U.S. are looking for romance, versus 54 percent of single men, according to polling cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Galentine’s Day originated in a 2010 episode of the NBC (National Broadcasting Company)US PrivatfernsehsenderNBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Protagonist Leslie Knope, played by comedian Amy Poehler, described it as “the best day of the year” – all about “ladies celebrating ladies.”

The concept quickly took off in American popular culture, thanks mainly to the internet. Celebrities and influencers, from Kylie Jenner to Lizzo, posted images of their celebrations. In 2020, former First Lady Michelle Obama shared a photo of her Galentine’s Day event on Instagram. Looking back, it was well timed: A month later, the Covid-19 pandemic put an end to in-person Galentine’s Day meetups for years.

Today, bars make Galentine’s Day cocktails, and stores sell Galentine’s Day greeting cards. A Galentine’s Day celebration can take any form – such as a festive brunch (Knope’s pickWahlpick), a workout session (Obama’s choice), or a movie night. But there is always a lot of pink.

Last year, Galentine’s Day came at a particularly critical time for me. I had recently gone through a rough breakupTrennungbreakup and was dread sth.sich vor etw. fürchtendreading the Valentine’s Day hullabaloo (ifml.)Trubel, Wirbelhullabaloo. For Galentine’s Day, my friends and I dressed up to go to our favorite Spanish tapas bar and enjoyed a night of some of life’s finest pleasures: wine, olive oil, and warm, crustyknusprigcrusty bread. 

As Knope once said on Parks and Recreation: “I’m gonna (ifml.)going togonna get drunk and then I’m gonna order a three-course meal where each course is made of dessert” – words to live by sth.sich nach etw. richten, nach etw. lebenlive by on Galentine’s Day.