Chopsticks and our Thanksgiving

Recently, I left the office exhausted and limped home. As I passed a store I stumbled on a stack of plastic Halloween costumes being offered at a 50 percent discount. Minutes later, a gigantic Christmas tree obstructed my way to the MRT station. All of a sudden Christmas is arriving. Halloween has already passed us by.

Though few Taiwanese actually celebrate Halloween -- save a few kindergartners and their foreign teachers -- its presence in Taiwan is gradually being felt.

I went home without giving holidays any more thought. Then, I innocently turned on my computer and checked my e-mails. Without warning, out popped the words in bright cheery red: Don't forget your Thanksgiving turkey! Special offer now!

Uh-oh, I thought. I'd forgotten about Thanksgiving.

And then I thought, how many Taipei 20-somethings would remember? Hell, how many Taiwanese would be aware of its existence at all? Then again, why should we care? What does Thanksgiving mean to your average Taipei citizen?

"Thanksgiving is this week? The first and only thing that pops into my head is turkey," Fred Yeh (葉凱丞), 22, from Taichung, remarked when asked of the coming Thanksgiving.

"Thanksgiving is sexist. The men sit on the couch and stuff themselves as they watch football while the women sweat in the kitchen from sunrise to sunset. Back home growing up, my mother and grandmother dreaded Thanksgiving," said Tom Sellari (施堂模), 41, an American living in Taipei.

Halloween was originally about warding off ghosts. Do we believe in ghosts in Taiwan? Check. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. Christianity in Taiwan? Check. Western Valentine's Day is well, like all Valentine's days east or west, buying expensive gifts for your girlfriend to make up for all the mini skirts, high heels, and basketball games you put her through. Check.

What about Thanksgiving? Out of all Western holidays, Thanksgiving is the most American. Do we have Native American Indians in Taiwan we need to thank for their assistance during harsh winters? Nope.

So what's Thanksgiving all about here? Another symbol of so-called cultural imperialism? Or another instance of businessmen repackaging an originally unknown and thus unnecessary holiday to Taiwan for the sake of adding a third Mercedes to their garage? Perhaps.

If this trend of celebrating foreign holidays continues, what's next? Taiwanese middle school students prancing around in green costumes all over Ximending on St. Patrick's Day?

Maybe, Taipei's Jim Kao (高國華), 28, who spends summers in California sums it up best with a casual shrug, "Thanksgiving celebrated in Taiwan is no different from Chinese New Year being celebrated in the US or Europe."

There isn't a more oriental holiday than Chinese New Year. And yet its presence is increasingly felt from the Chinatowns in LA and New York to the streets of Paris. In a way, this is a phenomenon to be welcomed, a sign that as international citizens enjoy the spoils of globalization. It no longer matters who we are or where we're from. To the younger generation, which doesn't often pause to think too much before enjoying an experience, maybe this is the right way to look at Thanksgiving in Taiwan.

Americans and Europeans can learn about the red envelope and how it feels to be Chinese for a day if they choose to, and thus the Taiwanese have every right to experience Thanksgiving even if we aren't American.