Easter in Korea

Slate Magazine recently published an insightful analysis of why Easter in the West has avoided the rampant commercialization that swallowed Christmas. The argument boils down to this: the Christmas story is much easier to secularize than the Easter story--the former is Hallmark, while the latter is, well, Mel Gibson.

In Korea, though, both holidays have managed to escape commercialization, at least for the time being. Gift-giving at Christmas here is modest and far from universal, and while store displays do "go tinsel" for the season, the change doesn't happen until after Chuseok. In fact, the Christmas lights didn't come out this year until the end of November, and the only major change in merchandise at the local Homever was a small seasonal section with cards, miniature artificial trees, and paper decorations.

But Easter, so far, has lacked even the most basic level of commercialization in Korea: the Homever gift pack. Most major Korean holidays, with the addition of Christmas, see the sprouting of huge displays of foodstuffs and cosmetics plastic-wrapped into ornate boxes to be used as gifts for friends, hosts, in-laws, and superiors. For Easter, though, there has been nothing so far.

I have several theories. First, Koreans seem to buy a lot more for the "small" holidays, like Valentine's Day and White Day, or Pepero Day, so maybe there isn't as much marketing pressure for the likes of Christmas and Easter. Second, most Korean holidays, even adopted ones like Christmas, seem to revolve around food--specifically, around huge family meals prepared by hapless daughters-in-law. Food-based giving is less obvious: there's food out all the time, and it's not like the daughters-in-law won't cook their holiday dinners if they don't see appropriate Homever displays. Third, Christmas and Easter are still relatively new holidays in Korea. At the risk of sounding like an old man, even I remember a time when the Christmas decorations didn't come out until Thanksgiving. Finally, there aren't a lot of "secular Christians" in Korea. There's no such thing as "culturally Christian:" either you're a practicing Lutheran, Calvinist, or Evangelical, and deadly serious at that, or you're a Buddhist. (For the most part.) In other words, the people who notice and care about Christian holidays tend to be pretty serious about them, and view them in a purely religious light.

Any thoughts?