COVID-19 has been keeping people in their houses, stockpiling toilet paper, afraid to go outside. However some cannot avoid the festivities. The lunar new year in China is one of the biggest travel days in the country, where 3 billion trips were projected to be made in 2020, with that number rising each year. Lunar new year fell on January 25th this year, just 2 days after WuHan shut down all travel in and out of the city and just shortly before all of China went on lockdown. The lunar new year travel season ended in mid-february with only a quarter of its usual passengers. Lunar new year is one of China’s biggest economic events, with Chinese people spending 1 trillion Yuan, or $145 billion USD, last year on shopping, food, and other preparations. Because of the spread of the virus, less people were spending money on travel and festivities, causing the economy to take a downturn. In addition, factories and businesses opened back up after an extended lunar new year break, but at two-thirds the capacity. This meant less buyers because of less goods being sold because of less people making those goods.
Lunar new year festivities in the US, however, were still happening because we hadn’t been hit with the virus at that point. San Francisco, with its large Chinese population, has one of the biggest and longest running lunar new year celebrations in the US. A San Francisco resident, who had been attending lunar new year celebrations for more than 3 decades wasn’t worried about the threat of the virus: “I don't think it's going to affect the parade. We're talking thousands and thousands and thousands of people and only a handful are sick.” This year, the parade was completely covered in golden rats, symbolizing the year of the rat. The parade, complete with lion dancing, traditional street food, and other cultural celebrations, went on as usual when health officials considered the area “[to be] at very, very low risk.”
Holi, a hindu festival in early March to celebrate the arrival of spring, fell at the unfortunate time period in which the Eastern hemisphere was deep in the thick of the virus and the Western hemisphere was just starting to crack down. Although Asia had many cases on March 9th and 10th, it didn’t stop everyone from partying. Some Hindus in India still celebrated springtime with the colorful festival, with some virus-themed twists. Many parades were held all around India and giant effigies of a personified version of the virus were burned. The parades were filled with cheering people throwing colored powder at each other, restoring a sense of normalcy with the traditions of former years. In the US, however, people were much more strict. Even before gatherings of more than 10 people were banned, celebrations and parades around the country were canceled in fear of spreading the virus further.
As for Easter, one of the most important Christian holidays, churches around the world held live-streamed Easter mass and some sites had virtual egg-hunts for little kids stuck inside. The Vatican even held a plethora of events for several days that week including Holy Thursday and Saturday, Good Friday, as well as Easter Sunday, some online and some including social distancing measures. Around the same time in mid-April, Passover celebrations were being canceled. “Major Orthodox Jewish organizations” told many to limit Passover preparations like buying new clothes and getting haircuts and to reduce the sizes of Passover celebrations with friends or family. Many households held their Passover celebrations over Zoom or other video chatting services.
On a more cultural note, Coachella was postponed this year to October. The Coachella Valley music and arts festival in April attracts almost 100,000 festival-goers a day over the 2 weekends. Many celebrities and social media influencers go to show off their outfits and work with brands in addition to those who go for the music. Huge names in music like Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, and Rage Against the Machine were supposed to perform this year along with many other artists from all genres of music.
Many more notable cultural events like South by Southwest, Burning Man, and countless other concerts and conferences were canceled or rescheduled due to the virus. These cancellations and restrictions have brought out anger, disappointment, but also humor from the public. As Hindus in Mumbai burn effigies of the coronavirus, Americans protest shelter in place orders. This brings to light the cultural differences between the Eastern Hemisphere and the United States. China, India, and Europe, especially Italy, found ways to hold their celebrations implementing safety guidelines and sometimes humor to make light of the situation. The attitude was either “we’ll work around this” like the Vatican City, or “oh, we’re going to have our celebration” like parts of China and India. At some point, all of these countries locked down and implemented strict distancing and shelter-in-place rules and their cases began to drop. The attitude in America, however, was a bit different. Some people and officials were more cautious and canceled or postponed large events like Coachella and other religious festivals. Many families had celebrations online with their loved ones to maintain social distancing. When states started to tighten social distancing measures, some Americans began to react differently. People protested with guns and signs against shelter-in-place rules in many states and some even coughed on merchandise in grocery stores and pharmacies in protest. These reactions highlight the differences between American culture and other cultures in Asia and Europe. I have often found, in America, that people relate everything to themselves. A lot of Americans took the shutting down of businesses and events as a personal attack on their liberties and free-will. Many people still went outside and got together with others because they weren’t worried about themselves getting sick. Shutting down large gatherings and telling people to stay in their homes was to protect those more susceptible like the elderly and immunocompromised rather than the healthy young adults. In Italy especially, young adults stayed inside their houses and made the most of it, playing music out of their windows for everyone to hear and having get-togethers online. In Asia, many countries had strict lockdown guidelines that would get people arrested if they went outside recklessly. Their governments aren’t the same as those in America, yes, but their efforts paid off and many countries are now completely or almost completely open with a limited amount of cases.
A big part of many cultures in Asia and the Middle East is community. Many celebrations rely around being with family and giving back to the community. In Islam, for example, it is mandatory for Muslims to give a portion of their income to charity. This practice is also present in other religions and cultures around Asia. In many countries in the Eastern hemisphere and South America, family is highly valued and it is common for children to continue living with their parents for many years after graduating high school and college. Some children even live with their spouse in their parents’ house for several years. This value of community and family could be a reason that people in other parts of the world reacted to shutdowns differently than some Americans. More people stayed inside and shut things down earlier, to protect their families and community, even if that meant being away from them. In America, moving out at a young age like 17 or 18 is common and familial ties aren’t as highly valued as they are in other countries. In terms of giving back to the community and charity, only about 53% of Americans give to charity as of 2016. In Thailand and Vietnam, however, over 70% of people planned to give to charity in 2015. In the United States, it seems people often think of themselves before thinking of others, while in other parts of the world, the custom is to think of others before oneself. This could explain the reaction of some Americans taking shutdowns as a personal attack on them and their freedoms, while in other countries it seems that people were more likely to stay home for their country and its people’s wellbeing.
I do not mean to say that any culture or cultural practice is better than another. I simply mean to educate on shutdowns and cancellations of events and analyze a possible background that could play a part in the reactions of people in other countries. I am not saying these cultural differences are the sole reason that people react a certain way, as many things come into play in a situation like this. Differences in government and legislative policies, the role of the economy and how it works, and amount of resources can all factor into how people respond to situations. This is merely a part of my take on the situation. Thanks for reading!