St. Valentine’s Day is one of the more popular American holidays for celebrating the love between a person and his or her significant other. Sweetest Day, also heavily celebrated by couples, is intended for the same purpose.

So what’s the difference?

There are many different versions about the origins of St. Valentine’s Day.

“Originally, Valentine’s Day is supposed to be celebrated in honor of women, and Sweetest Day is supposed to be celebrated in honor of men,” said Nathan Horton, a senior economics major, “but somewhere down the line it got messed up.”

According to hallmark.com, the most popular story about the origin of the holiday is about a priest by the name of Valentine who was executed by the Romans for refusing to deny his faith in Christianity. Before he was killed, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and wrote a farewell note to her that said, “from your valentine.”

The concept of sending Valentine’s cards came from fifth-century Rome from the feast of Lupercalia, which occurred in February. Young ladies would put romantic notes into an urn. The young men pick a note out of the urn, and he would be the young lady’s valentine for the whole year. St. Valentine’s Day is so popular that it is the second largest card-sending holiday behind Christmas.

Contrary to popular belief, Sweetest Day was not invented by Hallmark to increase sales during a selling slump. According to hallmark.com, the holiday was invented by Herbert Birch Kingston about 65 years ago. Kingston and his friends got together on a Saturday in October to pass out candy and gifts to orphans and people who were sick.

It soon evolved into a national tradition known as Sweetest Day, which is celebrated on the third Saturday of October. Sweetest Day is most popular in the Midwest and some portions of the East Coast.

Both holidays are very popular, but, among other reasons, many people are turned off by the holidays for lack of significant others.

“I prefer neither holiday because there shouldn’t be just one or two days of the year to show the person you love how much you care for them,” said junior psychology major Simone Lamothe. Lamothe also indicated that the holiday is so commercialized that people sometimes miss the meaning of Valentine’s Day.

“I would want someone to show they care for me throughout the whole year,” Lamothe said.