Big holidays

Halloween has not came yet, however, Walmart has already started selling Christmas decorations. Isn't it weird?

Actually it is not. In many county, people prepare for months before some certain big holidays. Those kinds of holidays could be vary from country to country, but their true meaning is the same. They are there to provide human some sort of emotional support.

In Vietnam, we have Mid-Autumn holiday and Tet holiday. Mid-Autumn holiday is the most anticipated holiday for children. During the night of that day, every family member will gather under the full moon light and eat traditional cakes. Adults give children gifts like toys and costumes. It is the only night that a child can go out with his friends after midnight. Usually, they will go in groups, wearing masks, costumes, bringing traditional hand-made lanterns and are supposed to sing a lot. Basically, it can be compared with how the children have fun in Halloween night for many western countries. There is something to note here: the traditional cakes, lanterns and toys are being sold at least one month earlier.

Aside from Mid-Autumn, we also have Tet Holiday. It is a holiday to celebrate the end of a lunar year, and the beginning of a new year. For Vietnamese, and most Asians, this holiday is the most important holiday of a year. We meet our family members, have some time together, visit our relatives or friends that we may never have a chance to see their faces in the whole year. Children also get lucky money from adults and spend them on whatever they want. In Vietnam, every house must has at least a branch of a pink cherry tree and/or a kumquat tree. We prepare our home with many kinds of traditional food, in case our friends/relatives come to visit us. We decorate our home with flashy things, or holidays banners, etc. And guess what? All of these things are being sold at least two months before the actual holiday.

It is quite the same in the United State, or in many western countries. They do not have Mid-autumn holiday or Tet holiday, but they have Halloween, Thanks Giving and Christmas. The goodies that are supposed to be used during those holidays are often being sold at least a month earlier. Why?

According to Micro-economy theories, we see those goodies on the market because there are demands for them. When there are demands, there will be supplies. The demands reflect our inner emotional needs of breaking from our normal boring working life and get some fun with our family or friends. We are all looking toward those days, and want them so bad that we could not stop ourselves from buying all the stuff that are related to those days. During these periods, people are smiling, day-dreaming and mostly happy. The actual holidays maybe will be not what we expected, but the preparation for them alone make us happy for the whole month, or months. It does not matter if you are an Asian, or an American, you will always have some holidays to keep you feel good for a month. Looking that way, maybe our cultures are not so different from each other much, right?