Holidays

Holidays.

I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t a topic to talk about in the “Economics, Politics and Society” class. But it is somehow related, because holidays (or bank-holidays in England) are based in legends or true events that happened in the past, leaving a mark in our world. This holidays, therefore, have 2 interesting approaches: they are reflected in the culture of certain societies and they represent a major market explosion. In this post I’ll analyze both of them.

As part of the society, holidays vary around the world. The national holidays are obviously different regarding the country, and the ones that are the same in several countries might be celebrated in very different forms. For example, Halloween is a whole event in the USA, while in México we also celebrate the “Día de Muertos”, but two days later and in a very different way. While the American kids go fooling around with a costume asking for candy, Mexicans built altars for the beloved that have already passed away. It’s amazing for me how we’re able to have so many holidays around the world and how much weight and importance they have on our society’s way of living.

Talking about the second approach, the economy of a certain country is extremely changed because of these holidays. For example, Valentine’s Day. Have you any idea of how much candies, chocolates, flowers, balloons and gifts are bought? It’s all about marketing. This holiday specifically, has nothing to do with a country’s culture, it’s just something someone invented in order to make this revolution happen, although it’s possible only one time per year.

And what about Christmas? Isn’t it a day to celebrate Jesus’ birthday? Aren’t we supposed to congratulate him and buy HIM presents? I know this is a very catholic point of view, but I think that no matter which religion you follow, you’ll agree that Christmas wasn’t created (at least at the beginning) to make every family exchange gifts between them. It’s marketing again who’s doing his job. It’s marketing again who’s moving the whole country’s economy, and in some cases, the whole world.

I know my point of view may sound a little critic but I just criticize how people forget what the essence of something is about and they just go following what everybody else does. Besides that, I have nothing against holidays. Actually, I’m really glad that these days exist in order to join entire families or even entire countries, and that an economy that might be going towards recession is a little bit saved by these phenomena. Besides, who could not love Holidays? We don’t have to work those days =)!!