Written Sources

This article writes about how holidays are often times a celebration of a special occasion, and range from significant historical events to birthdays. It also touches upon how holidays are treated can be seen to have changed over time, with them becoming more commercialized, due to general changes in culture and changes in interpretation, arguing that holidays, in general, have become more commericialized over time.

This article talks about the globalization of holidays and how they change depending on where they end up. Specifically, this article focuses on the Day of the Dead and Halloween. In reference to Day of the Dead, the article talks about how it is a "deeply spiritual Mexican tradition", where people honor their ancestors with offerings and family gatherings. This holiday ends up being a lot more commercialized in the United States, and it raises a question of at what point does cultural appreciation become cultural appropriation, and relates it to the commercialization of holidays. The article also talks about how influences from the United States specifically push holidays towards consumerism, and tend to focus on products rather than spiritual roots. This supports the idea that holidays and how they are perceived are affected by commercialization.

This article from the Smithsonian Magazine talks about the oddity of Japan's Christmas traditions that involve Kentucky Fried Chicken. Annabelle Smith provides historical context to how this tradition came up, by talking about the marketing strategies that the company used to promote Kentucky Fried Chicken to Japan, by promoting it as a Christmas meal. This has led to the growth of Christmas in Japan, a country where "only one percent of the population is estimated to be Christian", and where Christmas is not a national holiday. This supports the idea that commercialization affects holidays globally by showing how much it has influenced the tradition of Christmas outside of its original perceived context, going from a more religious holiday, to being a much more commercial holiday.