中西方传统节日文化对比 论文

A Comparison of Chinese and Western Traditional FestivalsAbstractComparing the Chinese and Western festivals can help people promote the communication and understand the different cultures.As the society and inter-cultures develop,Many aspects of life will be affected by globalization in all countries. And western festivals are becoming more and more popular in China. We should select the essence and discard the dross. China boasts a brilliant history and glorious traditions. In modern times, Chinese tradition should be preserved and promoted. But it seems that young people don’t have the realization to treasure the tradition. To the opposite, they turn to pursue enthusiastically a seemingly more modern culture. If this trend is allowed to continue, the priceless heritage of our ancestors will be replaced by western traditions. There is nobody expecting such a consequence. So let’s unite together to inherit and carry forward Chinese tradition.Key words:traditional festivals; Chinese and Western cultures;cultural differences;common ground中西方传统节日对比研究摘要对比中西方节日可以帮助人们增进交流，了解不同的文化。

随着社会和跨文化的发展，所有国家生活的许多方面都受到全球化的影响。

西方节日在中国正变得越来越流行，我们应该取其精华去其糟粕。

中国有着悠久的历史和光荣的传统。

在当今时代，我们应该继承和发扬中国传统。

但是，年轻人们并没有对待传统的意识，相反，他们转向疯狂地追求更现代的文化。

如果这种趋势一直继续下去，我们祖先无价的遗产将会被西方传统所代替，没有人希望出现那种结果。

所以我们要团结起来继承和发扬中国传统文化。

关键词：传统节日；中西方文化；文化差异；共同点ContentsIntroduction1. Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals1.1The Difference on the Festival Forms1.2The Difference on the Festival Connotations1.3 The Difference on the Festival Customs1.3.1 Spring Festival vs. Christmas Day1.3.2 Tomb Sweeping Day vs. Halloween1.3.3 Double-Seventh Day vs. Valentines Day1.3.4 Mid-autumn Day vs. Thanksgiving Day2.The Influencing Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals2.1 Factors Influencing Chinese Traditional Festivals2.1.1 Confucianism2.1.1.1 Benevolence2.1.1.2 Filial Piety and Reunion2.1.2 agriculture civilization2.2 Factors Influencing Western Traditional Festivals3. Common Ground and Mutual Fusion of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals3.1Common Ground3.2 Mutual Fusion4. ConclusionA Comparison of Chinese and Western Traditional FestivalsIntroductionDifferent countries have different cultures.Culture is the soul carrier of human beings, and it’s the core value of one country. Among all the elements that are composed a nation’s culture, traditional festival culture is the most important and richest one. Festival is regard as a special occasion on which people may give thanks for a harvest, commemorate an honored person or event, pay respect to the dead, or celebrate a culture. Festival introduces during the course of human development and historical evolution as a cultural phenomenon. This remarkable cultural phenomenon reflect human cognition and attention to the natural environments and peripheral surroundings. Festival is viewed as “ a carrier of cult ure”, or an embodiment of the patterns of behavior and thinking that people learn, create and share. Through this unique and specific phenomenon, it is more direct and convenient for the researcher to explore the deeper layer of human culture. Moreover, the festival provides us a shortcut to explore the difference and similarity of two cultures. It is known that Chinese and western traditional festivals are twodifferent cultural forms evolved from comparatively independent cultural systems, which possess peculiar characteristics and varied manifestation. So they must have a lot of differences.The thesis consists of forth parts. The first part would focus on the differences of traditional Chinese and western festivals. In the second part of the thesis, major factors causing differences would be analyzed. The third part would study the common ground and mutual fusion of traditional Chinese and western festivals. In the last part of the thesis, there would be a brief conclusion.1. Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals1.1 The Difference on the Festival FormsOn the one hand,the influential areas of the two sets of festival cultures are different. Chinese festivals mainly influence the Asian countries including Japan, Korean, Thailand, etc. The western festivals mainly influence the Christian world. Although in the modern multicultural world the influences of western festivals such as Christmas Day are much wider than Chinese Spring Festival, the traditions which have been formed in many countries still exist.On the other hand,they have different periodicity. Chinese traditionalfestivals are mainly based on lunar calendar, while the western ones are mainly based on the solar calendar.1.2 The Difference on the Festival ConnotationsThe first difference in the perspective of connotation is that they have different value orientation. Traditional Chinese festival cultures are featured by collectivism. Chinese festivals attach more importance to group activity and the passing down of ethics and virtues. But traditional western festival cultures are featured by individualism. They lay great emphasis on the expression of personal emotions and the individual psychological feelings.Second, Festivals between China and Western countries are different in the form of emotional expression. 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 Chinese and the Western country have shown very different attitudes about a gift for someone. The Chinese people often defer about the present, as if they have to accept it, but they will not open it in front of the present. In western country, people ask for a gift, and they will usually open it in front of people’s face and express their thanks.Third, the national culture mentality can also be different. The Chinese festival culture are Comedy-oriented, they pursuit the happyending and harmony, while the western festival culture are tragedy-oriented because the ancient Greek culture are tragic-conscious and the Christian culture are sin conscious.1.3 The Difference on the Festival CustomsThe custom is a great difference between Chinese and western traditional festivals.Different culture background breeds different national festival customs.Understanding Chinese and western festival customs can help us improve our faith and respect to different national culture.Next, in order to study the difference of Chinese and western festival customs,we will take Spring Festival,Tomb Sweeping Day, Double-Seventh Day and Mid-autumn Day for example, and compare with Christmas Day, Halloween, Valentines Day and Thanksgiving Day.1.3.1 Spring Festival vs. Christmas DayIn China, as spring is the most beautiful season and all creatures on earth begin to grow, flowers are blooming in a riot of color; seeds sprout everywhere, i t is vitally important to celebrate the coming of the spring. As the beginning of a year, December 23rd in lunar year is the prelude to Spring Festival. On that day, all families without exception will worship the god of the kitchen and started to busily prepared for the New Year’s coming. In addition, according to the traditional habits, Chinese peoplewill also make a thorough cleanup, which is also called spring-cleaning, to show their desire to sweep “the old and bad things” out of their house, ring out the Old Year and ring in the New Year. After this work, every house along the street has a bright and new look. With paper-cuts on the windows, couplets on the wall and red lanterns in front of the door, it looks really brilliant and full of happiness. The New Year’s Eve is the last day of December in lunar year. At that night, all members in a family will get tog ether to enjoy the “family reunion dinner”, implied meaning lucky and harmony. When having dinner, everyone should only talking about things happy and good, avoid referring to death, disease or something bad. What’s more, family members will not sleep unti l the dawn of the New Year’s Day. Instead, they will chat, watching TV and having snacks such as melon seeds, orange, and peanuts. The most exciting moment is when the New Year’s Bell rang. It seems as if all the firecrackers around the world are set off with only one second. The sound of firecrackers will not stop until the dawn, and the new upsurge will begin at that time, when every family open the door and begin to visit their relatives. The carnival will continue to January 15th in lunar year.In western countries, a similar festival is the Christmas Day which actually begins in December 12th and ends in January 6th in the next year. Like Chinese New Year, it is also a period rather than only one day, which is familiar to us all – December 25th. As the birthday of Jesus Christ, theChristmas Day is with no doubt the most vitally day all over the year. And as we all know, most western people are Christian. Red, green and white are regarded as the luckiest colors in Christmas Day, as they stand for the Christmas candle, Christmas tree and pure snow. People decorate a kind of evergreen tree with all kinds and colors of lights, balloons, gifts, paper flowers and so on, all filled with a festival atmosphere. Santa Claus is the most famous figure in western festival. All children believe that they will receive a brilliant gift from Santa Claus, and as they growing up, they will gradually know that their Santa Claus is a figure in human’s imagination. But who care? The most important thing is they get pleasure and own a happy childhood full of imagine. Just like Chinese spring-dinner, western people value the reunion of the whole family. They having dinner together beside the Christmas tree and enjoy themselves in playing until late at night. It is worth mentioning that the most popular songs during this period are “Silent Night”, “Jingle Bells”.1.3.2 Tomb Sweeping Day vs. HalloweenT he Tomb-sweeping Day is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature w ill rise up and rainfall increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Tomb-sweeping Day is not only a seasonal point to guid e farm work; it is more a festival of commemoration. The Tomb-sweepingDay sees a combination of sadness and happiness. This is the most impo rtant day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this tim e offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the diseased. Also, they will not cook on this day and only cold food is served. In ancie nt times, people celebrated the Tomb-sweeping Day with dancing, singing , picnics, and kite flying. Colored boiled eggs would be broken to symbol ize the opening of life. In the capital, the Emperor would plant trees on th e palace grounds to celebrate the renewing nature of spring. In the village s, young men and women would court each other.Similar to the spring festivals of other cultures, Tomb Sweeping Da y celebrates the rebirth of nature, while marking the beginning of the plan ting season and other outdoor activities. On each Tomb-sweeping Day, al l cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jamm ed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweepi ng the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then b urn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet. With t he passing of time, this celebration of life became a day to the honor past ancestors. Following folk religion, the Chinese believed that the spirits of deceased ancestors looked after the family. Sacrifices of food and spirit m oney could keep them happy, and the family would prosper through good harvests and more children.Today, Chinese visit their family graves to tend to any underbrush th at has grown. Weeds are pulled, and dirt swept away, and the family will s et out offerings of food and spirit money. Unlike the sacrifices at a family' s home altar, the offerings at the tomb usually consist of dry, bland food. One theory is that since any number of ghosts roam around a grave area, t he less appealing food will be consumed by the ancestors, and not be plun dered by strangers. Honoring ancestors begins with proper positioning of a gravesite and coffin. Experts in Fang Shri, or geomancy, determine the quality of land by the surrounding aspects of streams, rivers, trees, hills, a nd so forth. An area that faces south, with groves of pine trees creates the best flow of cosmic energy required to keep ancestors happy. Unfortunate ly, nowadays, with China's burgeoning population, public cemeteries hav e quickly supplanted private gravesites. Family elders will visit the graves ite at least once a year to tend to the tombs. While bland food is placed b y the tombs on the Tomb-sweeping Day, the Chinese regularly provide sc rumptious offerings to their ancestors at altar tables in their homes. The fo od usually consists of chicken, eggs, or other dishes a deceased ancestor was fond of. Accompanied by rice, the dishes and eating utensils are caref ully arranged so as to bring good luck. In some parts of China, the food i s then eaten by the entire family.In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy ho pe of spring on this day. The Tomb-sweeping Day is a time when the sunshines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again livel y. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of spring outings . At this time tourists are everywhere. People love to fly kites during the T omb-sweeping Day. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Tomb-sweep ing Day. Its uniqueness lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread loo k like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns." The Tomb-s weeping Day is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past, the Tomb-sweeping Day was called "Arbor Day".In western countries, a similar festival is Halloween.On October 31st, dozens of children dressed in costumes knock on their neighbors' doors and yell "Trick or Treat" when the door opens. Pirates and princesses, ghosts and popular heroes of the day all hold bags open to catch the candy or other goodies that the neighbors drop in. As they give each child a treat the neighbors exclaim over the costumes and try to guess who is under the masks.Since the 800's November 1st is a religious holiday known as All Saints' Day. The Mass that was said on this day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before became known as All Hakka e'en, or Halloween. Like some other American celebrations, its origins lie in both pre-Christian and Christian customs.October 31 st was the eve of the Celtic new year. TheCelts were the ancestors of the present-day Irish, Welsh and Scottish people. On this day ghosts walked and mingled with the living, or so the Celts thought. The townspeople baked food all that day and when night fell they dressed up and tried to resemble the souls of the dead. Hoping that the ghosts would leave peacefully before midnight of the new year.Much later, when Christianity spread throughout Ireland and October 31 was no longer the last day of the year, Halloween became a celebration mostly for children. "Ghosts" went from door to door asking for treats, or else a trick would be played on the owners of the house. When millions of Irish people immigrated to the United States in the 1840s the tradition came with them.Today' school dances and neighborhood parties called "block parties" are popular among young and old alike. More and more adults celebrate Halloween. They dress up like historical or political figures and go to masquerade parties. In larger cities, costumed children and their parents gather at shopping malls early in the evening. Stores and businesses give parties with games and treats for the children.Teenagers enjoy costume dances at their schools and the more outrageous the costume the better!Certain pranks such as soaping car windows and tipping over garbage cans are expected. But partying and pranks are not the only things that Halloween-ers enjoy doing. Some collect money to buy food and medicine for needy children around the world.Halloween originated as a celebration connected with evil spirits. Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts, goblins and skeletons have all evolved as symbols of Halloween. They are popular trick-or-treat costumes and decorations for greeting cards and windows. Black is one of the traditional Halloween colors, probably because Halloween festivals and traditions took place at night. In the weeks before October 31, Americans decorate windows of houses and schools with silhouettes of witches and black cats.Pumpkins are also a symbol of Halloween. The pumpkin is an orange-colored squash, and orange has become the other traditional Halloween color.1.3.3 Double-Seventh Day vs. Valentines DayThe seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the most romantic traditional Chinese festival, commonly known as the double-Seventh Festival，the Begging Festival or the Daughter’s Festival.Skills-begging is he main folk custom for the Double-Seventh Festival, on which night women would get together to pray to Vega and Altair. Zhi Nu is said to be clever and deft, good at handicraft, so women always pray to her for the special gift, which is called skills-begging. There are also those who pray for wealth, long life or sons, each having her own preferable choice, but only one wish can be prayed for accordingto the folk belief. As the folktale goes, Zhi Nu is a wretched maid , nothing but clever and deft; there fore more women tend to pray for her special gift.The sacrifice offered to Niu Lang and Zhi Nu are distinctive-melons, flowers, water chestnuts, peaches, plums, lotus seedpods, etc.-----fresh and dainty, in remarkable contrast to the usual fish and meat offered at those common memorial ceremonies hosted by male masters.Skill-begging takes varied forms; the common one is threading the needle. A group of unmarried girls, with threads in hand, perform a small contest of threading the needle in the moonlight and the one who first threads the needle will win the special gift from Zhi Nu. It is a very popular game among maids. There is a story about a maid named Zheng Cainiang who prayed to Vega on the night of the Double-seventh Festival. Zhi Nu asked her what she desired and she answered “weaving crafts”. Zhi Nu then gave her a one-inch gold needle and stuck it in a piece of paper, saying that within three days without letting anybody know Zhen Cainiang would receive the special gift and could also change into a lad. Two days later, Zheng Cainiang could not help but reveal the secret to her mother who went to see the gold needle out of curiosity, only to find nothing but the paper with the needle hole in it. After her death, Zheng Caining was said to be reincarnated to a baby boy. Afterwards, maids followed suit and thus threading the needle to beg for the special gift has become a popular practice.One of the anecdotes kept in the book Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi [Bequeathed Matters from the Kaiyuan (713AD---741AD) and Tianbao (742 AD---756AD) Periods]，about the time of Emperor Tang Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (618AD---907AD), mentions that there was another form of “skills-begging”in the palace at that time: On the night of the Double-Seventh Festival, the palace maids would each get a spider, put it into a small box, and open the box the next early morning to see whose spider had woven a thicker web; the thicker web showed the owner’s being bestowed on more weaving skills, the thinner fewer. Accordingly, the folk populace contended to take the practice, which was of great appeal.In the south area by the Chang Jiang River, according to the memories of the elderly women, the begging activity in their childhood had a different aspect of interest. Early on the day before the double-seventh’s festival, people would fetch rainwater and well-water in equal quantity and put the mixed water and well-water in equal quantity and put the mixed water in a bowl in the open air for a whole night. The next morning on the Double-Seventh Festival, the bowl of water which contained night dew too would be put under the sun for half a day till the noon when a thin film emerged on the surface of the water. Then an embroidery needle, or an extremely thin bamboo strand, or a pine needle would be put on the surface slightly enough that it would float but notsink. Judgment would be made according to the needle shadows reflected from the bottom of the water. Due to accidental factors, coupled with people’s imagination, the needle shadows would change constantly and magically. It was taken for granted that the form of a dragon, a phoenix, or clouds or flowers was a sign of receiving the special gift, a prediction that the girl would be clever and deft and get whatever she aspired after. Such an activity was always performed when lots of girls gathered together, known as “the Begging Gathering”, which was full of delightful laughter and cheerful exchanges of conversations.Among the folk populace in Guangzhou, while worshiping on the night of the Double-Seventh Festival, girls will display their own needlework on the offering table, such as their hand-made embroidered shoes, tiger-head hats, scented purses, paper-cuts and many other articles of handicraft art, which is a feast for the eyes, too much to enjoy. Friends, relatives and passers-by cannot help stopping to appreciate and comment.In some areas, there is a custom of gazing up at clouds on the Double-Seventh Festival. People presume that day’s clouds tend to take special magic changing forms and they like to conjecture about their fates in accordance with the changeable clouds. This seems somewhat mysterious as the above-mentioned needle shadows, under the influence exerted by people’s psychology. The elderly in the countryside are said to observe the Heavenly River whose early appearance is said to predict aharvest year with a low corn price; otherwise, a high corn price. People call it “An Inquiry about Corn Price”, an old practice of divination, which so far has faded out of people’s memory.The country girls in the south of the Changjiang River have the custom of washing hair on the Double-Seventh Festival. Originally, they went to the field to collect seven kinds of weeds from which they rubbed juice out for hair washing. Later, hair was washed with water mixed with hibiscus leaves to substitute for weeds. It is said that Zhi Nu will wash her hair by the riverside that day and go to meet Niu Lang when her hair takes a glossy black look. Thus girls on the earth wash their hair too on that day.We cannot miss mentioning one snack for the festival . Dough is mixed with sugar, kneaded, pressed into a thin piece, cut into small squares, twisted slightly and put into boiled oil resembles Mahua( a fried dough twist), but more dainty and has a nice name “Qiao Guo”with the implication of “skills-begging”. It is usually home-made; some stores run this business as well and it sells well.Till now, the begging mores on the Double-Seventh Festival seem to fade out, but the legend of NiLang and Zhi Nu is still on the lips of people. Since Valentine’s Day is celebrated in foreign countries, some say, the Chinese should observe their own Valentine’s Day too. Among the traditional festivals, the Double-Seventh Festival is better suited to Valentine’s Day. Won’t you agree?In western countries, Valentine's Day is an informal observance of a lover's holiday. Today, the observance has no connection with the many legendary Valentines, and holds no religious significance. The day is observed with exchanges of love notes and cards, and other tokens of affection, called valentines. The symbols of the heart and Cupid are common in cards, decorations of store windows,candies and other paraphernalia. Traditional valentines were frilly sweet, and tender affairs made of red and white paper and lace with cutouts and cupids. The custom of sending cards, giving candy, and other such tokens has caught a great deal of commercial enthusiasm. Many stores, for instance, decorate seasonally, or a according to calendar holidays. Valentine's Day is the first excuse for splashy valentine theme dominates stationery stores, candy stores, confectioneries and quite often drug stores where cards and candy are sold.1.3.4 Mid-autumn Day vs. Thanksgiving Day"Zhong Qiu Jie" which is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar in China. This day is considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables an d grain has been harvested by this time and food is abundant. So, it is a ti me for relaxation and celebration. Food offerings are placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melo ns, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival incl ude moon cakes, cooked taro, edible snails from the taro patches and wate r caltrop.The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter an d one and a half inches in thickness, resemble Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes are made with melon seeds, almonds, mince d meats, bean paste and so on. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg is pl aced at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust is decorated w ith symbols of the festival.Today, festivities centered about the Mid-Autumn Festival are more varied. After a family reunion dinner, many people like to go out to attend special performances in parks or on public squares. What’s more，people in different parts of China have different ways to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.For example, in Guangzhou in South China, a huge lantern show is a big attraction for local citizens. Thousands of differently shaped lanterns are lit, forming a fantastic contrast with the bright moonlight.Though people in different places follow various custo ms, but all show their love and longing for a better life.In western countries, Thanksgiving Day, legal holiday observed annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. InCanada, Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday in October. Today Thanksgiving is mainly a celebration of domestic life, centered on the home and family.Public observances of Thanksgiving usually emphasize the holiday's connection with the Pilgrims. Thanksgiving pageants and parades often feature children dressed in Pilgrim costume, complete with bonnets or tall hats, dark clothes, and shoes with large silver-colored buckles.Many of the images commonly associated with Thanksgiving are derived from much older traditions of celebrating the autumn harvest. For example, the cornucopia (a horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruits and vegetables) is a typical emblem of Thanksgiving abundance that dates to ancient harvest festivals. Many communities also decorate their churches with fruits, flowers, and vegetables at Thanksgiving, much as European communities have for centuries during the autumn harvest season.In keeping with the idea of celebrating a plentiful harvest, preparing and eating a large meal is a central part of most Thanksgiving celebrations. pumpkin pie. These simple foods recall the rustic virtues of the Pilgrims. emphasizing the natural bounty that greeted early settlers in their adopted homeland. Later groups of immigrants to North America often adapted the traditional holiday menu to fit their own tastes. For example, many Italian American Thanksgiving meals include Italian specialties, such as pasta and wine.Many Americans digest their holiday meal while watching。