What Christmas looks like in Taipei
It's a surprisingly robust holiday season for a country that's <4% Christian.
The holiday decor goes up earlier in Taiwan than it does in the United States—circa November 1, since Thanksgiving doesn’t exist as a barrier. You’d be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t lay garlands along its counters or blast Christmas tunes, and every bank and preschool has a tree lit up in the front window. Yet December 25 is a standard work day, and when I was out shopping today for last-minute gifts, I was overwhelmed by the crushes of people in every store. I can certainly understand the desire for decorations—twinkly lights and tinsel and trees covered in trinkets are just plain fun—but do Taiwanese people feel the same pressure to buy gifts before this deadline? Trimmings for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration are already going up, snakes next to Santas decked out in the same glorious reds and golds.
This is our third Christmas season in Taiwan (!), but we’ve treated each one differently: In 2022, we stayed put for administrative visa reasons; in 2023, I went to the U.S. with our baby; and in 2024, thrillingly, my husband will come home with baby and me. But throughout December, we’ve tiptoed into something resembling holiday traditions here, like taking photos with Santa at the Regent Hotel, having a week of coffees alongside a marvelous panettone from the Italian restaurant I’ve mentioned here before, and putting up our very own tree, a faux number handed down by a neighbor. Our ornaments are spare, and include gifts from our parents, handmade yarn shapes purchased at a holiday bazaar for expats, and a bunch of 5¥ coins leftover from a trip to Tokyo—they have a hole in the middle, and I fashioned them with string leftover from our weekly pizza boxes. The effect is janky as hell but kinda charming, and we’ll add more each year.
