Illustration: Peter C.Espina/GT

This is that time of the year when Christmas trees twinkle at you in malls steeped in crimson. Santa dolls in shop windows herald the season as it is hard to miss the melody of "Jingle bells" amid the glitz of lights festooned with bobbles and stars. My consultant from a children's fitness center asked me days ago, "Are you interested in bringing your baby to our Christmas event?"

My boy is only one and half years. But amid the overwhelming atmosphere of Christmas, I was forced to ponder: Should I tell him about Santa Claus? Should I encourage him to believe in Santa? In years to come, will I sneak into his room on Christmas eve, stuff chocolates and presents in a sock and leave a note from Santa, praising his qualities and saying that he is loved and appreciated?

While I think about this, I have seen quite a few online comments, asking whether celebrating Western festivals means showing blind faith in foreign things while foregoing national dignity, and whether we Chinese are still confident in our traditional culture.

Some people were more confused - is it necessary for some Chinese kindergartens to celebrate every foreign festival, such as Halloween, with fervor? Why are parents made to create things that would be used in celebrating a foreign festival?

These grouses remind me of the last Halloween my toddler and I went through in the children's fitness center, during which he burst into tears spooked by a man walk toward him with a V For Vendetta mask. I immediately regretted taking him there and decided to leave. But just as we were setting out, he was intensely drawn to the games children were playing - kicking balls, rolling pumpkins, walking a maze and being gifted candies for participation.

I finally understood why kindergartens like to celebrate this festival - to see children happy amid the excitement with games and color all around them.

Do we really need to boycott Western festivals? I tend to believe it's no big deal. Be it Christmas, Halloween or Valentine's Day, they are no more than shopping festivals and a time to have some fun for Chinese people.

Nevertheless, an increasing number of Chinese parents find Christmas and Halloween much more attractive to children, even if they spare no effort in introducing them to traditional Chinese festivals. 

The truth is, fewer and fewer traditional elements can be found in Chinese festivals. Offering sacrifices to the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, participating in dragon boat races in the Dragon Boat Festival, solving riddles attached to lanterns during the Lantern Festival … these activities have changed to merely eating dumplings, moon cakes and yuanxiao, glutinous rice flour dumpling with sweet stuffing.

Compared to the fun and frolic of foreign festivals, traditional Chinese celebrations have been left dour with excitement only reserved for the taste buds. No wonder children drool for the former. The concern is - if people cannot fall in love with Chinese traditions when they are young, how would they treat them when they grow up? How would they teach their kids about traditional festivals decades later?

Instead of questioning the celebration of foreign festivals as blind worship of other traditions, a better choice could be encouraging parents to try harder to dig up more values of traditional Chinese festivals, preserving old ways of celebrating them while developing more interesting methods to attract our children to them.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. liaixin@globaltimes.com.cn