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Almost all traditional festivals inevitably fall into the dilemma of existing in name only. Is this inevitable?

For many years, people have been lamenting that the taste of festivals is getting weaker and weaker. When the concept of "festival" was replaced by "holiday", the festival economy and the resulting frenzy of holiday consumption among the public It has become the most magnificent landscape of the times. "Political correctness" in the concept of festivals often leads our thinking to the court of national salvation with unoriginal justice verdicts. It seems that the decline of local festivals is caused by foreign festivals. Therefore, around Christmas in 2005 There are some heyday threats like "defending the Spring Festival" that pop up. People have been debating how to protect local national cultural values ??for at least 100 years, and they will continue to do so at the same level, which obscures the crux of the issue.

In fact, almost all important traditional festivals, whether in China or Europe, are facing a great crisis. As cultural identity rituals, festivals have too many commercial imprints in the era of globalization. In the 1990s, European countries, including France and Denmark, were troubled by the penetration of consumer culture in the era of globalization represented by the United States, and tried to resist it by promoting local cultural values ??- the results were as everyone said See, little effect.

On the surface, the popularity of Western festivals in contemporary China is indeed highly suspected of "cultural self-colonization." It is indeed incredible that a yellow-skinned Chinese who speaks Chinese is keen on celebrating Christmas without any religious reasons. However, as our numerous interviews show, for most young people who ignore local festivals and admire foreign festivals They have no idea why Christmas, like Hollywood blockbusters, Coca-Cola, LV and NBA, is actually just a fashionable consumer product from the West. The specific meaning of Western cultural symbols itself has been confused beyond recognition by the desire of consumerism.

We are becoming less and less aware of why we celebrate the holidays. What we know and look forward to may just be a good sleep or vacation to relieve stress, just a good reason for a shopping spree or consumption, just an excuse to party all night long, or even just a symbol to show your fashion attitude. Of course, it goes without saying, Festivals are also a good opportunity for business promotion or a lever to stimulate domestic demand... All of these have made the cultural atmosphere of our festivals very thin, and the ritual function of festivals in strengthening people's awareness of cultural identity is increasingly diminishing. loss.

So, if the traditional Chinese festivals represented by the Spring Festival need to be protected and defended, then its imaginary enemy is not imported festivals like Christmas, but all those in the era of globalization that have suffered a fatal blow to traditional values. something.

Let’s have a good holiday and be ourselves seriously.

18 Opinion Leaders’ Views on Festivals

Looking back at tradition, the local festivals of the Chinese people mean commemorative activities, or reunions, or celebrations, or sacrifices, and the “Earth Festival” after the Spring Festival There are Lantern Festival, Dragon Head Head, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Laba Festival, Little New Year, etc. Gregorian festivals are generally commemorative days, such as Arbor Day, Labor Day, Children's Day, Army Founding Day, etc. Day, Teacher's Day, National Day, New Year's Day, etc. In addition, Chinese people have also been keen on celebrating "foreign festivals" in recent years, including Christmas, Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, etc. . A survey by the China Social Survey Office showed that 53.6% of young people celebrate "foreign festivals" to "find a reason to be happy"; as for "what is the difference between foreign festivals and traditional Chinese festivals", 57.1% of men think that " Chinese traditional festivals focus on material enjoyment such as food and clothing, while foreign festivals pay more attention to spiritual exchanges." 60.7% of women believe that "foreign festivals are relaxed and comfortable, while traditional Chinese festivals are tiring."

In China today, there are an average of two festivals per month. How do people treat these festivals? This investigation involves Confucian scholars, religious professors, private school teachers, former ambassadors to Germany, media commentators, professors at study abroad institutions in China, young directors, musicians, foreign company executives, beautiful writers, international supermodels, magazine editors, and people in China. Foreigners, partygoers, professional pastors, mountain climbing fans, overseas Chinese scholars, modern artists, etc. (Coordinator/Dong Wei)

Zhang Yang: "I don't know when the Dragon Boat Festival is."

"Sixth Generation Director", one of the most sincere young film artists of the contemporary era. He is faced with two major events recently, and he is probably in a delicate mood: First, his film "Sunflower" won two awards in Spain last October, and second, the new film was released in China, and the box office was dismal. Regarding the topic of festivals, Zhang Yang behaved quite indifferently.

“Festivals often mean that people get a period of freedom and happiness, and those of us who make movies have more free time than ordinary people. For me, festivals are a day of joy.”

< p>Zhang Yang believes that the real festivals are mainly Spring Festival, New Year's Day, May Day and National Day. Christmas is more like a time for young friends to get together, while during the Spring Festival, many people have to go home. On the second and third day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Yang often goes to Yunnan to get together with friends in Dali and other places. Zhang Yang is basically just "Valentine's Day". He thinks this is a holiday that young people under the age of 20 care about.

Zhang Yang believes that festivals are related to people’s growth experience. Valentine’s Day and Christmas only appeared after the 1980s. People born after the 1980s have more memories of these “foreign festivals”.

Zhang Yang knows when Qingming and Mid-Autumn Festival are respectively, but he doesn’t know when Dragon Boat Festival is. Zhang Yang does not think that the "Foreign Festival" is a "cultural invasion." "In fact, it just gives Chinese people a reason to party. Its function is to provide an opportunity and does not change people's ideas. It will not happen again in the future." We only celebrate Christmas but not the Spring Festival, because people have a historical heritage.” (Interview/Wu Wei)

Mianmian: “Valentine’s Day is so holiday-y and formal!”

When I contacted the famous beauty writer Mianmian, she was having dinner with her friends. The noise coming from the microphone set up a vivid background - it seems that Mianmian should be like this, always surrounded by a large group of friends, always the focus of everyone's attention . Such a party animal must be very interested in celebrating the holidays. Every holiday for her should be Colorful Days——

Mianmian actually said that she planned to stay at home on Christmas Eve, but she is known as the female version Xu Wei's singer Jiang Xin invited her out for dinner, so they went to "Happy Garden" together. Later, they went to say hello to the famous DJ at Beijing Music Station. When they passed by "BABYFACE", Mianmian followed her hunch and went in to find her. The boss, who rarely showed up, opened two more bottles of champagne... In this way, Mianmian, who had planned to stay at home quietly, spent a noisy Christmas Eve. She said she didn't feel much about Christmas, but her younger daughter was very passionate about Christmas because she would go abroad to spend Christmas with her father every year, just like a standard foreign child. At this point, she mentioned Valentine’s Day gifts, but she didn’t expect Mianmian’s answer to be “Never!” She said that if she wanted to cancel a holiday, it would be Valentine’s Day. “What’s the point? It’s so fake and formal! I don’t think so. Are you bored?”

The most impressive holiday in the past year, Mianmian thought about it for a long time, and seriously said it should be the Spring Festival, “because I can be with my family.” What are her plans for the upcoming Spring Festival? It is also "accompanying mom and dad". As for her happiest festival, Mianmian said one was the world's top DJ party she held on the Great Wall two years ago, and the other was the rock music festival in the Netherlands not long ago. Regarding public festivals, Mianmian can neither tell the origins of foreign festivals nor remember any impressive traditional festival celebrations. "I am a person who has no sense of festivals."

(Interview/Han Feng)