Cultural exchange is incredibly important, most definitely - but I'd probably postulate that for a lot of people it's important for them to retain their 'self'. For many people in an increasingly globalized world, it's important to stick to their traditions. Not necessarily close them out to other people, sure, but to make sure that at least the exchange is being dealt with in a respectful and culturally appropriate manner.

Well I think the difference probably stems with the fact that Christmas and Easter are Western traditions in and of themselves - and heck, Christmas is not, to my knowledge, even seen by many Christians as important as other religious holidays. Easter is a different story, sure, but then you don't really see Good Friday becoming secularized. And, in fairness, I'm not hugely supportive of how commercialized the two holidays have become - the secularization is fine. Heck, Japan followed the West's lead since the 70s and 80s and also vaguely celebrates Christmas in its secular and commercial form.

But for Western culture to take a festival that is still seen as hugely important to a very prominent religious culture and not just 'secularizing' it (that in itself isn't my problem with it) but commercializing it in a fashion where the entire original meaning behind that day and festival is lost is a bit strange to me. The events I'm referring to are literally an excuse for college kids to go out and have a rave party, basically. That doesn't seem to me to be a good 'cultural exchange'. If you had an event based around Holi that articulated its importance to Hinduism and maybe was even a bit educational? Sure, that would be pretty good. I wouldn't be supportive of Ramadan becoming a flash dieting trend or Tibetan debating being shown on ESPN either, for that matter. Orientalism is most certainly a problem, but it doesn't have to be the necessary product of cultural exchange. It is just important that all parties understand their relative positions on the global stage when considering exchanging cultural ideas and practices.

Also I would probably posit that it all depends on how the culture that is being 'borrowed' views the interaction, which again relates to Orientalism and Said's point about taking in account the socio-political standing of each of the nations in play. Japan's fine with kimonos, sure - would they be so happy if we started a sport that consisted of nose-diving jets while shouting 'Banzai!'? Probably not.