中西方节日差异英语作文

篇一：中西方传统节日对比英语作文

Second English papers

Each nation has its own characteristic festivals that

reflect the culture of itself.In China, asour country and

westerncountries become increasingly closer,more and more chinese accept western culture.

However, some western festivals sometimes even more popular than traditional festivals, foreign cultural’s influence should not be underestimated.The main The main group of celebratingwesternfestivals is youth group which takes students as the main force.People celebrate festivals such as Valentine's day, mother's day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. In fact, because of the Chinese way of thinking, western holidays in China is just popular for Christmas and Valentine's day, not all western holidays attract people's attention. According to a survey ofCentral China Normal University, many college students know the existence of western festivals, but little of them know about their cultural connotations. In addition to Christmas, respondents who knowother western festivals’meaning are less than 10%. Referring to the way to celebrating, in General, during the Festival, people send gifts such as flowers and greeting cards.They sing with friends, and

blessor send messages to each other;lots of people are going to relax during the festival:shopping, inviting friends to restaurants, dancing, and so on. On the whole, Chinese celebrate western holidays with the following

faith four anda characteristics: passion for universality,particularity,blind

consumption

As the saying goes,1000 readers have 1000 Hamlets in mind. people have different viewson whether Chinese should celebrate western holidays. Some people who are keen on Western festivals, argued that China's traditional festivals are too rigidand there are many festivals with feudal thinking.On the contrary,westernfestivalswhich

flamboyantand reflect are excitingadvocate In the freedom. addition, westernholidaysmake people who’re under heavy social pressure have a chance to relax. At the same time, some experts believe that the celebration of Western holidays are an inevitable trend of cultural exchanges. Huang Kemin, aSociologistbelieves that celebrating western holidays is aform of cultural communication.In some cases, it’ll fill vacancies inChinese culture. Some students believe that celebratingWestern festivals can enhance the friendship ofclassmates and make the classes more solidarity.Duringa

festival, Most of the supermarkets and restaurants provide promotions that benefitconsumers, these festivals also has a catalytic role to economic development.

Opponents believe thatChina has its own history and local culture for thousands of years, the Western Festival don’t suit China's needs for cultural development.Also, due to blind worship,people often losttraditional culture. Celebratingwestern holidayswill shake the traditional culture’sstatus in the minds of nationals and endanger the inheritance and development of traditional culture. For example, many young people celebrate Valentine's day, but they don't knowChinese Lovers’s Day. In addition,owing to the cultural invasion,many countries arewary of foreign holidays .To guarantee Chinese cultural’s independence, western holidays cann’t be allowed to develop freely. At the same time, many people celebrate Western festivals for following the fashion .The effectof cultural exchanges isn’t obvious. In addition, the blind pursuit of consumption and enjoyment causesmoney worship,hedonism and other bad ideas.

Just my personal opinion, we should celebrate western holidays withrational thought, and we shouldn’t lose

ourselves.Towards western Festivals, we should take its essence and discard the dregs.For instance,ThanksgivingDaycan be advocated for making our culture advance as it reflects one of Chinese traditional virtues- gratefulness; others, such as Halloween,should be treated calmly because it’s religious.

Cultural integration is the trend of the historical

development.So we should not implement "isolationism". Under the premise of enhancing awareness of traditional culture and revitalizing Chinese culture, we can activelyenter the world that has frequent cultural exchanges.

Festivalsare important means of cultural transmission which host the important cultural.They’re the crystallization of human wisdom. Rich festival lights up our lives, for our life has various colors. Let us take the broad mindand appreciate the colorful festivals!

篇二：中西方节日文化差异比较 中英文版

OECD says Unemployment Will Continue to Rise

OECD：工业化国家失业率持续攀升 Despite reports that many industrialized economies are beginning to

emerge from their worst economic crisis in decades, unemployment is rising and will likely reach a historic peak of nearly 10 percent next year. The findings come from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

经济合作与发展组织星期三报告说，工业化国家的失业率仍在增加，而且有可能在明年达到近10%的历史最高水平，尽管不断有报道说，很多工业化国家正在走出几十年来最严重的经济危机。

Indications that unemployment continues to rise is grim news for leaders heading to the G-20 summit in the United States next week. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports unemployment reached its highest level among industrialized nations of 8.5 percent in July.

对于下个星期到美国出席20国集团峰会的各国领导人来说，失业率继续上升真是个坏消息。总部设在巴黎的经合组织说，工业化国家的失业率已经在今年7月份达到8.5%的最高水平。

OECD unemployment division chief Stephan Scarpetta says the number of jobless among the OECD's 30 member countries is expected to climb even higher next year, to nearly 10 percent. That translates into 57 million people out of work.

经合组织就业分析和政策部主任斯蒂芬.斯卡皮塔(Stephan Scarpetta)指出，经合组织30个成员国中的失业人数预计在明年将进一步攀升，达到接近10%的水平。也就是说，工业化国家总共会有5千7百万人失去工作。

"Unfortunately, despite the most recent indicators that suggest the

[economic] recovery may be in sight somewhat earlier than we were

expecting only a few months ago, it will take far [longer] for the recovery to materialize in terms of significant improvement in the labor market," he said.

“不幸的是，尽管最近绝大多数指标都显示，经济复苏可能已经出现，比我们几个月前的预期有所提前，但是这次复苏可能需要更长的时间才能转化成劳工市场的显著改善。”

The United States, Spain and Ireland are among those countries with the fastest rising unemployment. All three were affected by the collapse of high housing prices. The damage spread to other sectors of the economy.美国、西班牙和爱尔兰是OECD成员中失业率上升最快的国家。这三个国家都受到高昂的房地产价格暴跌的影响。而且房地产市场崩溃所造成的破坏扩散到了经济的其他领域。

Scarpetta says young people are among the hardest hit. In Spain, for example, more than one in three young workers are unemployed.

斯卡皮塔指出，年轻人受到的冲击最大。比如在西班牙，三分之一以上的年轻人找不到工作。

So as world leaders discuss the financial and economic crisis during their meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Scarpetta says it is important they also address the social dimensions of the crisis - like unemployment.他说，当世界领袖们在宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡开会讨论金融和经济危机的时候，至关重要的是，他们需要关注这次危机对社会的影响，尤其是失业问题。

"The good news is that countries have already acted quite quickly and decisively, I would say," he said. "Part of the stimulus packages have been additional resources for labor markets and social policies."“好消息是：各国已经迅速和果断地采取了行动。他们经济刺激计划的一部分就是在劳工市场和社会政策方面提供更多的资源。”

But efforts by governments to extend and prolong unemployment

benefits, and to offer more job counseling and training have not kept up with the rising numbers of jobless. Scarpetta says that means countries will need to target their resources more selectively and to ensure that the most vulnerable members of the labor force benefit.

可问题是，各国政府虽然扩大和延长了失业补贴的发放，并且提供了更多的就业咨询和

培训，但是这些措施并没有赶上失业人口的增加。斯卡皮塔表示，各国因此而需要更有选择性地分配资源，以确保劳工队伍中最为脆弱的群体能够得到帮助。

中西方节日文化差异比较

A holiday of a nation represents a glorious culture and concentrated customs of a nation.

传统的民族节日形成是一个民族的历史文化的长期积淀。节日的由来原因与人们的生活有密切的联系, 它体现了人民丰富的情感世界, 寄托了人民对生活的热爱。有这样一句名言: “每个民族的每个节日, 正是反映这个民族文化最真实的一面”。可见, 要了解一个民族的文化底蕴,必须从他们的传统节日入手, 才能了解到他们的文化特色与民族特点。

There is a great difference in culture between China and Western countries, the truth of which is self-evident, for example, language, education, festival, and so on. No one can deny it. Therefore, I choose this topic to study. “A holiday of a nation represents a glorious culture and concentrated customs of a nation.”There are many festival in the world, but a lot of people don’t know any festivals of them, and in the same country, different festivals have different meanings and even the same festival in different countries is celebrated in their own ways. Through contrastive analysis of Chinese and Western festivals, it is interesting to understand the unique charm and the cultural implication of their holiday culture.

一、中西节日的起源与形成差异

中国长期以来处于封建自给自足的农业社会和自然经济中, 其传统节日具有浓厚的农业色彩,包含了农耕文明的社会特征,主要是从岁时节令转换而来的。我国古代长期以农为本, 在生产力和农业技术不发达的情况下,十分重视气候对农作物的影响。在春种、夏长、秋收、冬藏的过程中认识了自然时序的复杂规律, 总结出四时、二十四节气, 形成了以节日为主的传统节日。勤劳的中国人民为了更好地生存, 必须大力发展农业, 而农业的发展离不开天气的关照。古人云“春雨贵如油”、“清明忙种麦,谷雨种大田”。在古代, 春节、清明节等都是重要的农事节日。

西方文化由于长久受基督教的影响, 其传统节日起源带有浓厚的宗教色彩, 如情人节( 纪念名叫瓦丁的基督教殉难者)、复活节( 基督教纪念耶稣复活)、万圣节( 纪念教会所有圣人)、圣诞节( 基督教纪念耶稣诞生) ，这些节日的起源大多与宗教有关系。当然, 西方节日中也有和农业有关的节日, 但他们以农业为主的节日的历史不如中国漫长。

二、中西节日庆祝方式差异

中国的传统节日, 基本是封建社会时期形成的, 不可避免地留下封建社会的痕迹: 等级制、家族式,节日无不以家族内部活动为中心。西方的传统节日就不同了, 更多的是表现出人们的互动性、集体性和狂欢性, 以自我为中心,崇尚个性张扬。这与中国节日的家族性恰好相反, 体现了西方文化的群体性,反映了人们渴望互相交流、群体参与的愿望,体现了人人平等、自由表现自我的特点。这里试举两例说明。

( 1) First of all, let’s have an analysis of spring festival in China and Christmas day in Western countries.

In China, people regard spring festival as a very important holiday, because in the spring, there has been glorious weather with hundreds of flowers struggling colorfully. Everything is renewed and its beauty is beyond description. For several Millennia Chinese people like celebrating the most significant holiday — Spring Festival. Its original meaning is from agriculture. In ancient time, people instituted the paddy growth cycle as the “years”. In the booked titled“shou wen he bu”, there is a saying: “The year, the Valley is ripe.”After the victory of 1911 Revolution in Chinese modern times, the year name has been fixedly gotten down. The Nanjing provisional government stipulated to use lunar calendar stin the folk. And in the factory and school, the Jan 1 of New Year’s Day in lunar calendar is called Spring Festival.

There is a fable about Spring Festival. In ancient time, there was a man named Wan Nian, who saw the Jieling at that time was very messy, so he decided to fix Jieling. But he didn’t find the method to compute time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood on the mountain, and then was seated under the shade. The moving shadow of trees inspired him, and he designed a sundial device, which could test the time of day by shade

of the sun. And later, the spring drop inspired him. He made a five-story vessel to measure the time. After a long time, he found every 360 days on the cycle time and the length of day repeats. At that time, the Monarch named ZuYi who was often distressed at the weather changes in the mishap so soon, knew that and ordered Wan Nian to take the vessel to tell him the truth of the sun and moon’s running. Hearing that, ZuYi was very happy, and hoped it could test sun–moon law and the eve of the morning acutely. Thereafter the people had been benefited from this creator calendar a lot.

After the winter, the spring comes. After years’ of long-term and careful observation, accurate sun calendar was made. When Wan Nian presented a solar calendar to the monarch, he had totally been changed into an old man. The monarch was moved deeply by Wan Nian’s deed. The monarch appointed Wan Nian as the sun-moon God of longevity, in order to commemorate his achievements. Since then when people hung Shouxing map on Spring Festival, it was reported to be honor of the distinguished Wan Nian.

In the west, the Christmas, the Western countries’ most solemn festival, is similar to the Spring Festival in China. The period from December 24 to the January 6 of baptism section in the following year can be referred to Christmas festival.

Why is Christmas the most important festival in Western countries? That is because of the commemoration of the birth of Jesus. In Bible the Virgin Mary, pregnant by the Holy Spirit, gave birth to Jesus in the manger because she didn’t find room in the hotel when returning home on the road. Therefore later generation commemorated the birth of Jesus in December for Christmas. With the spread of Christianity, Christmas has become an important festival among Christians and even it is necessarily the case of the non–Christians.

In many countries of Europe, people attach great importance to this festival, and its celebration is much grander, and gradually Christmas becomes a national festival.

On the evening of Dec.31th, the people in the west flock into the streets to have a grand carnival. There are brilliant fireworks in the sky, drifting with melodious singing on the land. Particularly close to the late zero 0’clock, tens of thousands of people gather in to pray sincerely and silently for the coming year’s countdown. When the bell sounds 12, suddenly, the beautiful music sound, people are singing happily and talking cheerfully, playing all long night. Like the Spring Festival dinner in China, westerners also lay emphasis on Christmas family party and they will sit around Christmas tree, eat the feast meal and sing in Christmas carol and pray for happiness. Turkey will be put on the Christmas dinner table. After everyone enjoys himself, they will jump to the “Disco” or “Kangaroo Dance.”

In the end, both Spring Festival and Christmas day have their own characters. On the eve of New Year in China, people will hold the family reunion without inviting the bystander, which has almost become a common custom. “Spring Festival has dense national culture and traditional atmosphere; it has the glorious history and the unique beauty.”In the West, Christmas Day has its own unique culture. On the Christmas Eve, when the bell sounds 12, Santa Claus who brings the gift and the best wish for each person will arrive. At this night, people are jumping with joy, running uestrainedly to the avenue, hugging one another, whether they know each other. “The Christmas Day has the air of the time and the tidal sense of touch, so it is more close to the modern life.”

春节与新年。作为新一年的开始, 中西方有着极大差异的庆祝方式。春节作为中国最重要的传统节日, 源于秦朝, 定于每年农历的一月一日,从农历12月23日开始, 人民开始开展各种庆祝方式, 一直持续到元宵节。春节的习俗繁多, 如大扫除、吃团圆饭拜年、放鞭炮, 舞狮子等。总之,不论是大街小巷, 都笼罩着一股浓浓的喜庆气氛。而西方, 他们崇尚的是

过公历新年, 即元旦。相比之下他们过年的方式就浪漫多了, 在12月31日晚,各地区的人民涌上街道,进行盛大的狂欢, 到了深夜接近零时时, 数十万人会聚集于一起, 诚心地祈祷，为新的一年的到来倒计时。当大钟敲响12下, 顿时, 优美的乐曲奏响, 揭开了华丽舞会的序幕, 人们通宵达旦地庆祝。可见, 春节与新年各有千秋: 春节, 充满浓厚的传统气息和独有的魅力; 新年, 体现时代的气息和潮流的感觉, 更贴近现代生活。

( 2) secondly, let’s have an analysis of ZhongYuan festival in China and Halloween day in Western countries. July in the lunar year is the month for ghosts. In this month, the souls will be released from the Hades, but people will be organized to hold activities to entertain them with their hospitality for this rare "holidays." Particularly on Jul.15th, ZhongYuan festival, every family will prepare for rich offerings to sacrifice these good brothers who come from the nether world.

ZhongYuan festival is also the Yulan pot festival in Buddhism, which originates from the familiar story “MuLian saving her mother”. MuLian is one of the Buddha’s disciples. Because his mother was greedy in nature, after the death she was threw into the samara hungry ghost road, and was unable to come back forever. In order to rescue his mother, he made“the thYulan pot festival” on the Lunar Jul.15, worshiping Buddha and monks with five fruits, in the hope of releasing the ancestor from suffering in the Hades.

In the west, this festival is called Halloween day. It begins from Oct.31th to Nov. 7th, and is the third important festivals next to Christmas day and Thanksgiving Day. Such is the origin of Halloween day. The De Ruyt who lived in Great Britain and Ireland believed that there were many gods dominating their lives. And on the De Ruyt’s New Year's Eve, the De Ruyt people let youths gather in a team, wearing strange masks, holding carved turnip carrot lights, wandering across the villages. It was thought to be a harvest celebration in the fall. According to the legend, the dead people will visit on the eve of Halloween. It is said that people should let the ghost see their satisfactory harvest and present abundant

sacrifice to them. Both the bonfires and lights are not only to scare away the ghosts, but also to illuminate them back to the place where they come from.

On this day, people can disguise themselves freely and make trouble to their heart’s content. On many public occasions and home compound, people lay out different kinds of decoration in the windows and doors, such as pumpkin lights, a scarecrow and even the skeleton. Every family will hold a dressing ball, and put on fruit and other crops on the table.

Comparing with these two holidays, I find that the two festivals are all to sacrifice ghosts. However, there is a difference between them. That is, ZhongYuan festival lasts a shorter time, when families gathering to commemorate the ancestors; while Halloween lasts longer, people can take part in procession outdoors, and enjoy beautiful and particular day, in harmony with the nature in a maximum way.

万圣节与中元节。万圣节作为西方的重要节日之一, 颇受人民的重视。那一天, 每户门前都要挂上一盏南瓜灯, 人人都穿上奇装异服,据说有辟邪之用。其实, 作为先进的发达国家, 人们对于鬼怪已不再迷信, 他们多半是为了寻开心而已。同时,人们还举行盛大的化装舞会。他们可以任意去左邻右舍讨吃的, 绝不会受到惩罚。在中国, 传说中元节是鬼门关打开的日子, 这一天,地府里的小鬼会出来游荡, 迷信色彩浓厚的中国人, 对鬼神是极为敬惧的。那一天, 他们会当街烧香祭祖, 祈求鬼神不要降祸于他们。于是,中元节这个与时代格格不入的产物逐渐被淘汰了。

三、中西方节日文化比较之饮食差异比较

中西传统节日中的饮食特点也有显著的差异。中国传统节日中的饮食是趋于感性的, 讲究色、香、味俱全。尤其是节日性美食,每个节日都有不同的食品以区别其他的节日。春节是个祥和的节日, 也是亲人团聚的日子, 离家在外的人, 在过春节时都要回家欢聚。除夕晚上, 全家老小都一起熬夜、守岁, 欢聚酣饮,共享天伦之乐。北方地区在除夕有吃饺子的习

俗, 饺子的作法是先和面, “和”字就是“合”; 饺子的饺和交谐音,“合”和“交”有相聚之意,所以用饺子象征团聚合欢。此外, 饺子因为形似元宝, 过年时吃饺子, 也带有“招财进宝”的吉祥含义。南方有过年吃年糕的习惯,甜甜的粘粘的年糕, 象征新一年生活甜蜜蜜, 步步高升。元宵节有吃元宵的习俗, 端午节有吃粽子的习俗,中秋节有吃月饼的习俗。而西方的饮食则是趋于理性的, 他比中国更重视营养的合理搭配。因此, 有发达的食品工业,如罐头、快餐

四、Different connotations reflected in Chinese and Western festivals 1 The generally traditional holiday connotation

The traditional holiday is created by the whole national and it’s a special symbol of a national culture deriving from a national cohesive force; its energetic influence is huge. All the festivals are established by usage, through which people’s lives are becoming more interesting and colorful. Each holiday has a moving story; each holiday has its

commemoration ceremony and activity; each holiday has its deep history and the cultural implication. Different countries have different ways of celebrating the festivals. Traditional ethnic festival is a complex social and cultural phenomenon, bearing with a formation of the history and the accumulation of characteristics like the psychology, belief, thinking, aesthetic and many other profound cultural connotation of the structure of the value directions. It is the most prominent exhibition of national survival characteristics .It closely relates with people's productive activities and different historical times, and it also acts upon the development of people's material and cultural life through different levels.

2 The religious belief

The religious belief is different. Western religions are extremely obvious. God in the Christianity is all things of the world. He doesn’t allow the people to worship other Gods and idols. What people have is God’s granting rather than acquisition through hard working. So, on the Christmas Day people implore God to bestow the happiness to people. The Chinese traditional is its non –religion. “In the early time, the social structure in China was established on the basis of nature worship and human spirit which was in favor of the mutual coordination and balance between ④God and human.”

3 The ethics culture

The ethical culture is different. Since social development between the West and East is different the ethical cultures are naturally quite different. “China has a long history of land civilization, while the western has marine civilization”. China is a country with a long history of five millennia and a multi-nationality's country. Traditional culture origin is primarily rooted in the Confucianism culture which is a combination of the various schools of thought culture. Chinese

traditional festivals contain abundant spirit humane and ethical culture. From ancient to the modern, there are different kinds of festivals and colorful contents, which come down in one continuous line with Chinese long history. It not only constitutes profound cultural details, but also bears the origin of the culture of the Chinese nation. It is a valuable spiritual heritage. Compared with this, some western festivals, such as Christmas Day, Valentine’s Day and Halloween Day, etc, the ethical color is a bit weak, while the color of entertainment is much more, offering more chance for modern people to show their personalities and enjoy the joy. Thus it can attract more and more investment. In the west the Christianity culture has a great influence on festivals.

4 emotional expression_r

Festivals between China and Western countries are different in the form of emotional expression_r. Thus, Chinese veil their real thoughts while Westerners always reveal their minds freely and directly. The way of accepting gifts and the attitudes are different. During festivals, the

篇三：英语论文中西方传统节日文化的差异

Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional

Festival

Abstract

Traditional festivals are the historical products of a nation’s development. Whether in China which has a long history of more than five thousand years or in the newborn America, the origination of traditional festivals in the two countries is similar. Most traditional festivals originated from people’s expectation for harvest in the agricultural production, the worship towards the gods and the nature, sacrifices to the historical characters and etc. After the long-term evolution, traditional festivals have become an indispensable part of the national culture. Through traditional festivals, the distinct cultural characteristics of a people and the national spirits can be observed. Since the ancient time, China has been a large agricultural country, the small-scale economic mode known as ―The men plough and the women weave‖ initiated the agricultural civilization of Chinese characteristics. Chinese traditional festivals are deeply rooted in the agricultural civilization and greatly influenced by Confucianism. To some extent, Chinese traditional festivals have relieved from the primitive taboos and tended to be happy festivals which reflect the concept of harmony and integration in Confucianism. In America, religion plays a very important role in people’s life. With various branches, the religious system of America is quite complicated, among which Christianity is of the greatest importance. Some American traditional festivals are the direct products of Christianity and most festivals have evolved into the religious festivals later. This paper is designed to discuss the differences in customs, origins and other aspects of traditional festivals with the similar cultural connotation, then analyze the reasons lying behind the differences and finally reflect the cultural differences of the two nations. The paper also analyzes the mutual fusion in tradtional holidays between China and the west.

Key words: Traditional festivals; Chinese and American culture; cultural differences; causes; mutual fusion.

中西方传统节日文化的差异

摘要

传统节日是一个民族发展的历史产物。无论是在有着五千多年悠长历史的中国还是在新生的美国，传统节日的起源都显示出相通之处，大多数传统节日都源自于人们在农业生产生活中对丰收的期盼、对天地神灵和自然的崇拜、以及对历史人物的祭奠等等。传统节日在长期的演变和发展中，已经成为民族文化不可或缺的一部分，透过传统节日可以反映一个民族的文化特色和民族精神。中国自古以来就是一个农业大国，“男耕女织”的小农经济模式开创了具有中国特色的农耕文化。中国传统节日深深植根于农耕文化之中，在演变过程中深受儒家思想的影响。从某种程度而言，中国传统节日已经渐渐摆脱原始禁忌和崇拜，演化成为体现儒家和合思想的欢庆祥和的节日。在美国，宗教的影响和地位是不言而喻的，美国的宗教体系错综复杂，其中最有影响力的宗教派别是基督教。美国的传统节日大都衍化成为基督教的产物，大多数的美国节日在日后的发展中都成为宗教性的节日。本文从两国传统节日中有着相似文化内涵的节日出发，探讨这些传统节日在起源、节日习俗等方面的差异，并分析产生这些差异的原因，从而折射出两国传统节日文化的差异。另外本文也探讨了中西方传统节日的相互融合。原创英语毕业论文 请咨询QQ253771735

关键词：传统节日；中美文化；差异；根源；相互融合

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day

2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween

2.3 The Chinese Valentine’s Day vs. Valentine’s Day

2.4 Summary

3. Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

3.1 Factors Influencing Chinese Traditional Festivals

3.1.1 Agricultural Civilization

3.1.2 Confucianism

3.2 Major FactorsInfluencing Western Traditional Festivals

3.2.1 Industrialization

3.2.2 Christianity

4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays

4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion

4.2 The Performance of the Mutual Fusion

5. Conclusion

Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

1. Introduction

China is a multi-ethnic nation, with the Han nationality accounting for the majority of the total population and various ethnic minorities in the minority (Zhao, 2002). According to Zhao (2002) and Tan (2003), people in different nationalities or regions celebrate some traditional festivals of their own, while among all the festivals the most typical ones celebrated by Chinese people in common consist of these ones: the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival, the Chinese Valentine’s Day, the Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Day, the Double-Ninth Festival, the Winter Solstice, the Laba Festival, and the Kitchen God Festival, etc.

Different from China, America is a multi-cultural nation with the immigrants taking a large proportion of its population and people from different countries live together and the cultures brought with them melt into the distinct American culture (Wu, 2003; Hu, 2004; William, 2007). In the system of American traditional festivals, there are festivals originating in the homeland and festivals brought from the foreign lands. The festivals in America can be divided into the legal holidays and traditional ones; besides, some states also celebrate a few festivals of their own (Ellinwood, 2005). In general, according to Samovar et al. (2008), the most popular traditional festivals celebrated by American people include the following ones: New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, All Fools’ Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas, etc.

According to the folklorists’ research, traditional festivals in different societies derive from such originations as people’s expectation for a bountiful harvest in the agricultural production, the primitive worship towards the gods and the nature, sacrifices to ancestors and historical characters and so on, and it is unable to deny that traditional festivals display the cultural differences on several aspects (Davis, 2001; Ni and Qiao, 2003). In the modern world with globalization taking such a fast pace,

communication among people of different nationalities is more common in the fields of politics, economy, cultural and technological exchange and others. In a context of different cultures, misunderstandings and conflicts are likely to arise in the process of communication when there is little awareness of diverse cultural values and beliefs. Therefore, the recognition and understanding of the cultural differences is of great importance to promote the cross-cultural communication. This paper is designed to investigate the cultural differences embodied in traditional festivals in China and America based on the analysis of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotation.

2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

Traditional festivals, as an integral part of the national culture, possess rich cultural connotations. To some extent, traditional festivals are the manifestation and sublimation of human beings’ cognition and emotions toward the world and in the light of the universal cognition and emotions of human beings, it is no wonder that there are traditional festivals in the two cultures with the similar cultural connotations (Zhang, 2001). However, behind the similar cultural connotations of traditional festivals, origins and customs of these festivals are greatly differentiated, which illustrate the cultural differences of the two nations.

2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day

The Spring Festival in China and Thanksgiving Day in America are both festivals for family members to reunite and to strengthen the family bonds. The Spring Festival is the biggest festival observed by Chinese people. However, in the beginning, the ―spring festival‖ was not held to farewell to the past year and welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year, but to celebrate the coming of ―Spring Commence‖(the 1st solar term) (Chen and Lu, 1989). For when ―Spring Commence‖ arrived, which was seemed as the coming of spring, farmers had to sow seeds in the farmland. Just as the old saying goes that ―The whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring‖