1、Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional FestivalAbstractTraditional festivals are the historical products of a nations 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
2、 countries is similar. Most traditional festivals originated from peoples 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 indispen
3、sable 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 wea
4、ve” 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 happ
5、y festivals which reflect the concept of harmony and integration in Confucianism. In America, religion plays a very important role in peoples life. With various branches, the religious system of America is quite complicated, among which Christianity is of the greatest importance. Some American tradi
6、tional 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 reason
7、s 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
8、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
9、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Contents1. Introduction2. Differences between Chinese a
10、nd Western Traditional Festivals2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween2.3 The Chinese Valentines Day vs. Valentines Day2.4 Summary3. Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western TraditionalFestivals3.1 Factors Influencing Chinese Traditi
11、onal Festivals3.1.1 Agricultural Civilization3.1.2 Confucianism3.2 Major FactorsInfluencing Western Traditional Festivals3.2.1 Industrialization3.2.2 Christianity4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion4.2 The Performance of the Mutual
12、 Fusion5. ConclusionCulture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals1. IntroductionChina 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
13、 (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 Fes
14、tival, the Chinese Valentines 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
15、 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
16、. 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
17、 following ones: New Years Day, Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, All Fools Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas, etc.According to the folklorists research, traditional festivals in different societies derive from such originations as peoples expectation
18、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 Qia
19、o, 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 l
20、ikely 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
21、 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 FestivalsTraditional festivals, as an integral part of the national
22、 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 festi
23、vals 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 F
24、estival vs. Thanksgiving DayThe 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 n
25、ot 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 o
26、ld saying goes that “The whole years work depends on a good start in spring” (Xiao, 2002). Concerning the origin of Thanksgiving Day, it should be related to the pilgrims. In history, the first thanksgiving had to date back to 1621. In 1620, a group of pilgrims who wanted to escape religious persecu
27、tion reached Plymouth by the May Flower (Julian, 2004). As soon as they settled down, they found they had to face a terrible wintertough weather and lack of food and shelter. It was those native Indians that helped the pilgrims to survive. Later, the Indians taught the new settlers how to grow corn
28、and other crops and also how to fish and hunt. In the autumn of 1621, the pilgrims enjoyed a bountiful harvest. In order to celebrate the harvest and show gratitude to the Indians help, they held a feast together with the native Indians, which was recorded as the origin of thanksgiving (Geng, 2006).
29、 Based on different origins, the two festivals developed with their own national culture and formed the unique customs of their own.Among all the customs, food at the festival is the most remarkable, just as the Chinese saying goes, “Food is the first necessity of the people.” No matter at the Sprin
30、g Festival or on Thanksgiving Day, a reunion dinner will be set for celebration. In China, the reunion dinner is held on the New Years Eve, that is, the day before the first day of the first lunar month. The menu for the reunion dinner traditionally includes fish, chicken and other delicious food. I
31、n Chinese characters the pronunciation of “fish” (“鱼”; in Chinese pinying “y”) makes it a homophone for “surpluses”( “余”; in Chinese pinying “y”), in this sense, the fish at the reunion dinner is to express peoples good wishes for the coming year which are implied in the Chinese phrase “may there be
32、 surpluses every year”(“年年有余”; pinying “nin nin yu y”). There are also other typical food for this festival, such as dumplings and nian gao known as the Chinese New Year pudding. The shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China, so people eat them and wish for money and treasure (Tan,
33、 2003). “nian gao”, as a homophone, means “higher and higher, one year after another.” At the reunion dinner, the family members sit together according to a particular order in respect to the elder in the family. While the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner consists of roast turkey served with
34、 mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, vegetables, fresh corn bread and ends with pumpkin pie. Family members sit together at the dinner table to enjoy the joyful time of reunion. (Hu, 2004) In celebrations at home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiv
35、ing dinner by saying grace. Grace is a prayer before or after a meal to express appreciation to God, to ask for Gods blessing.Despite the difference in the food culture, the celebrations of the two festivals also differ a lot. China is known for its morals and rituals, which are also embodied in the
36、 celebrations of the Spring Festival. Affection for the dead and the alive is exhibited in lots of ways. It is customary to make sacrifices to the ancestors with delicious food and burning paper money to the dead during the festival. In a family, the elder usually give “red envelops” to the children
37、. People pay New Year calls to their relatives and friends with gifts. Greetings can be heard everywhere among people, such as “Happy New Year” (in Chinese “过年好”) and “May you be prosperous” (in Chinese “恭喜发财”). Other customs, like pasting the door panels with the Spring Festival couplets, highlight
38、ing Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, burning fireworks and so on, all create the festive atmosphere. For the Thanksgiving Day, beside the big Thanksgiving dinner, people celebrate the festival by traveling with the family, parading, shopping and also American football is often
39、 a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional games are traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. 2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. HalloweenThe Zhongyuan Festival and Hal
40、loween are two festivals related to ghosts (Trevor, 2005; Robert, 2007). The Zhongyuan Festival, falling on July 15th in the lunar calendar, is a festival for people to offer sacrifices to the departed relatives (Chen and Lu, 1989). Since ancient China, the seventh lunar month has been believed to b
41、e the “ghost month”, and in this month the ghosts are allowed to get out of the gate of the hell and go home to receive the sacrifice of their descendants. In history, people used to worship ancestors at every change of season throughout a year, but restrained by the natural rhythm, farmers had to g
42、row crops in spring and harvest in autumn (Xiao, 2002). Then in spring they prayed their ancestors for a good harvest and in autumn they offered their ancestors the crops to show their worship. Therefore, sacrifice in the autumn became the most important. With Buddhism introduced into China in the E
43、astern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), the original Zhongyuan Festival combined with the festival of Buddhism the Yu Lan Pen Festival, which was held in memory of the forefathers of the Buddhists and encourage the Buddhists piety (Ibid.). Afterwards the customs of the Yu Lan Pen Festival went with the Ch
44、inese custom of commemorating their ancestors on the Zhongyuan Festival and the present Zhongyuan Festival, or the Hungry Ghost Festival, took the shape. At this festival, Family members would offer prayers to their deceased relatives and would burn joss paper. Families would also pay tribute to oth
45、er unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls would not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune and bad luck. A large feast is held for the ghosts on the 15th day of the 7th month, where everyone brings samplings of food and places them on the offering table to please the ghosts and w
46、ard off bad luck.Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain celebrated on the night of October 31. The ancient Celts believed that on the night of October 31, ghosts of the dead would return to earth causing trouble and damaging the communitys food supply (Eugene, 2006). T
47、he Celts observed the event by burning crops and sacrificing animals to the Celtic Gods in bonfires built by the Druids (The Celtic Priests). They also wore costumes, typically of animal skins and heads, because they believed that they could avoid being recognized by the ghosts, which is now conside
48、red as the root of dressing in the Halloween costumes on this festival. They would also place bowls of food outside their houses to satisfy the ghosts and prevent them from entering the home, which could be where trick-or-treating originated. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread int
49、o Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. The day is often associated with the colors orange and blac
