中西传统节日中的文化差异

内蒙古民族大学本科毕业论文

中西传统节日中的文化差异

裴海峰

摘要：节日是一种文化现象，它不仅反映着人们社会生活的各个方面，同时也诠释着一个民族的文化。中西方文化存在各个方面的差异，传统节日文化是其中重要的一项。中国的春节和西方的圣诞节分别是东西方最重要的传统节日,它们各有其独特的起源，习俗，社会功能，文化内涵。本文通过对中西方传统节日春节和圣诞节的比较分析，从而深入了解中西文化的差异

关键词：传统节日中西文化差异

On the Cultural Differences Between Chinese and Western

Traditional Festivals

Pei Haifeng

Abstract：Culture is an important cultural phenomenon, it is not only a way of showing the social life of its people, but also a good way of passing on the national cultural. There are aspects of differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Traditional festivals are one of the important differences. The Chinese Spring Festival and the western Christmas are the most important traditional festival for the eastern and western, they have unique origin，custom，social function and culture meaning. This paper demonstrates the cultural differences between Chinese and Western, by analyzing the tradition festival of Chinese and western.

Key Words: traditional festivals Chinese and Western cultures differences

Contents

Introduction (1)

1. The origin of Chinese Spring Festival and Christmas (2)

1.1 The origin of Chinese Spring Festival (2)

1.2 The origin of Christmas (4)

2 Analysis of Chinese Spring Festival and western Christmas (6)

2.1 agriculture and religion (6)

2.2 Ways of expressing feelings (7)

2.3 Religious belief (7)

3 Analysis of Chinese and western traditional festivals (8)

3.1 The way of naming (8)

3.2The way of celebration (8)

3.3The way of feeling (9)

Conclusion (10)

Notes (11)

Bibliography (12)

On the Cultural Differences Between Chinese and Western

Traditional Festivals

Pei Haifeng

Introduction

Every nation has its own culture. On the soil of culture, there grows its traditional festival. Traditional festival is a very important part of culture. Different nation has different culture and traditional festivals. The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people, just like Christmas in the West.

There are some differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Traditional festivals are one of the important differences. This essay probes into the differences between Chinese and Western cultures through traditional festivals. First, they are distinctly different in their origins. The festivals in China mainly stem from seasons and solar periods, which are closely related to agriculture. “The festivals in western countries generally stem from religion and its relative events. So they all are influenced with religious features. Second, they are apparently different in their customs. When celebrating the festivals, the Chinese tend to focus more attention on eating and drinking, while the westerners tend to put more attention to the seeking of pleasure and entertainments.” [1]In the era of globalization, due to the development and intensification in economic and cultural exchanges, we can feel the quick step of Chinese-western culture communication from the people’s celebration on each other’s festivals. The people of both sides accept and adore each other’s traditional festivals and there is a new tendency of selecting the superiority and eliminating the inferiority.

Local customs is a charming world, where one can learn the history and culture of the country he/she is staying more profoundly. Local customs find full expressions in the traditional festivals.

Take Chinese traditional festivals for example. Characterized by diverse styles and themes, Chinese traditional festivals are an important part of Chinese history and culture, both ancient and modern. A close relationship exists between many of the