Eastern Hemisphere Brings Holiday Cheer

“Ho-ho-ho!”

“Trick or treat!”

“Kiss me, I’m Irish!”

         These are just a small sample of the ever familiar sounds of Western holidays. Year in and year out, despite peoples’ religious preferences, or lack there-of, they know what these phrases are in reference to. The same way that a devout Lutheran will know what the lighting of eight candles celebrates, an Orthodox Jew will undoubtedly recognize the image of Santa Claus as the coming of Christmas. Celebrate these holidays or not, a year never passes without the identity of western culture reminding its citizens in every season that these are the festivities that our societies are comprised of.

          When Westerners such as me live in the Eastern hemisphere, many disadvantages may come to mind - I might miss the food; I may not be able to communicate with people on a daily basis; it will be difficult to follow my sports teams; will I find a trustworthy dentist? The big motion pictures come out so much later; most dreadfully, and depressingly, I very well may lack the spirit of any holiday that my family and friends in America are so traditionally immersed in.

           While I certainly get an occasional jouncing for an eggplant parmesan from Johnny’s, feel a bit disconnected as a fan when I watch the Knicks lose on the internet twelve hours after the fact, and do cringe when I get a teeth cleaning without crunchy toothpaste, most of the mentioned adjustments of living in the Orient are truthfully part of what makes my lifestyle so great. The challenges of communicating motivate me to learn the local lingo; the absence of good Italian food forces me to become addicted to salivating Asian delights like smoked shark meat or spicy oyster omelettes; I can find myself at game 1 of the Taiwan baseball championship series to replace my sorrows of any American fan ship I may not be a part of; and, yes, while not being home for any holiday is indeed a tug at the heart strings, I take part in celebrations of the Full Moon Harvest, or the commemoration of the Republic of China’s formation.

           In addition to these wonderful cultural substitutions, Western holidays are also brought to everyone’s attention on a rather extravagant level. While I lived in Korea, the Hongdae district of Seoul morphed into a circus of eccentric costumes and flashes of orange every October; come Christmas, every Lotte department store was showered with candy canes and inflatable reindeer; they even held a Saint Patrick’s Day parade that usually spilled into a four day event.

           Most extravagant in the department of Western holidays, though, is in the New Taipei City Hall’s annual, practical two-month long celebration of Christmas. I have had the great fortune of living in this area over two winters, and have been amazed both times. From mid-November to the end of January, citizens from all over Taiwan flock to Banqiao Station, just five minutes south of Taipei. While it is a far cry from a December Radio City Music Hall, the dazzling beams of holiday color, blaring tunes of Silent Night, and ever glowing, smiling Santa Claus lawn ornament displayed high and in the center of all the action are enough to make Uncle Scrooge himself turn on a new leaf. People gather all around to take family and individual pictures and gasp at the electric beauty of Taiwan’s Christmas. The fact that the country is predominantly Buddhist serves as not the slightest prevention from enjoying such magical holiday scenery.

           The scenic lights and festive music surely cannot cancel out the absence of a Christmas close to home, but it certainly helps. It allows ex-pats like myself to be constantly reminded that people of all different backgrounds feel the power of such holidays; being the product of a Jewish – Catholic mixed marriage, having grown up lighting Christmas trees and eight candles, I can especially appreciate this.

           While it pleasantly blows my mind to still walk outside in the third week of January and see these red, green, gold, white, and blue burning bulbs of enchantment, I also notice a contrasting, yet ironically compatible stream of radiant, cherry tinted lanterns. This, of course, is to celebrate the approaching Chinese New Year, a family holiday celebrated in the Far East on a scale just as special ours in the West. If my memory serves me correctly from last year, when the New Year begins in less than two weeks, the Christmas remains will be fully replaced; right now, though, I find it so strangely charming to see both emphasized on such a level. It reminds me how lucky I am to live in a place as wonderful as Taiwan, where not only are homesick vibes replaced with newer,  culturally interesting ones, but also where my own are accepted and acknowledged, to say the least.

           This of course brings to mind the recent American celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While this special day is currently only observed in the States, its path to universal recognition is far from impossible. Through the waves of cultural integration that I witness throughout the world, there is no telling what the future may bring for a heroin like Dr. King’s remembrance. As certain regions of the world continue educate the coming generations on an international scale, the sky is the limit to what we can all celebrate.