In today’s world, where one’s knowledge can be easily gained through the rocketing development of digital devices and the internet, many festivals that were signatures of some specific cultures are now celebrated all over the globe. This essay will discuss both views and show the writer’s opinion on this occurrence.
It cannot be denied that there are plenty of merits of celebrating other cultures’ festivals. One is its effect on education, through these activities, people can develop a better understanding of the history, customs and many other items which can be connected to their own culture thus boosting their affection toward it. Another positive aspect is the effect of these festivals on the original host’s economy. When it comes to festivals, people love to buy holiday-related merchandise or even want to travel to where the festival borned, thus boosting popularity and creating jobs for a great number of locals.
Despite having various positive sides, from my perspective, the negative one is still prominent in this case. First and foremost, international festivals now tend to be commercialized by some people who prioritize profit over conveying the actual story or meaning behind these festivals. It is clearly shown through the fact that most of us don’t even know why Christmas or Halloween are celebrated, we only want to catch up with trends and purchase unnecessary items to only be used in that particular occasion which may lead to over-consumption, consequences in a detrimental impact on the economy. Next, cultural dilution might happen, mostly because a part of the society has been less keen on local festivities. Obviously, there is nothing wrong when someone prefers a global event to a local one because of their own preference, but this is not in line with a total ignorance to their tradition. If the latter happens in a long period of time, there is a high chance of gradually forgetting origin and culture depletion. Last but not least, the few days spent for “widening international knowledge-event” is likely to cause disruption of daily basis of local residents, their place will be filled with people and these strangers will pollute the area with excessive noise, waste, security problems, which all contribute to the discomfort of the people living in the host place.
In conclusion, we have to admit that the globalization of festivals does benefit both the host and the participants, but simultaneously, we have to come up with more solution to aid the greatly outweighing downsides.