英语论文中西方传统节日文化的差异

Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festival AbstractTraditional 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 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 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 peoples 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Contents1. Introduction2. Differences between Chinese and 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 Traditional 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 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 (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 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 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 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 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 FestivalsTraditional 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 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 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 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 persecution 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 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). 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 Spring 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. In 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 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, 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 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 Thanksgiving 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 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. 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, highlighting 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 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 Halloween 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 be 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 grow 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 Eastern 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 Chinese 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 other 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 ward 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). The 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 considered 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 into 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 black, and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies(Chen Kefeng，2006). 2.3 The Chinese Valentines Day vs. Valentines DayThe Chinese Valentines Day and Valentines Day in the west are romantic festivals for lovers. The Chinese Valentines Day, also known as Qixi, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The origination of the festival is closely related to the love story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The skill is essential for their future family. On that night, the unmarried girls may pray for the Weaving Maid star to let them become smarter. When the star Vega is high up in the sky, girls do a test, which is to put a needle on the water surface. If the needle doesnt sink, then girl is already smart enough and ready to find a husband (Zhang, Qizhi 2007). Valentines Day is rooted in the story of the martyred Valentine. Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentines actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death and Saint Valentine was buried on the day of February 14th. Later lovers who got married with the help of Valentine began to memorialize him on this day. In the west, Valentines Day is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentines cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery (Ellinwood, 2005).2.4 SummaryThrough comparison of the three pairs of traditional festivals above, the differences in Chinese and American festivals can be summed up as follows.In view of origins, the Spring Festival has close relation to agriculture. Actually, most Chinese traditional festivals are derived from peoples conducting the agricultural production. In ancient China, agricultural production could not be separated from the special “solar terms” (in Chinese pinyin, “jiq”). Most Chinese traditional festivals are connected to the “solar terms”, for example, the Pure Brightness Festival, The Winter Solstice and others. Comparatively speaking, origins of American traditional festivals reflect the influence of religion, mainly Christianity. Thanksgiving Day is related to religion to some extent, although it is originated in the celebration of harvest, the influence of agriculture on this festival has faded away, and it tends to be a festival for family reunion and showing thanks to the God. In fact, among all the American traditional festivals many are originated from Christianity. The biggest festival Christmas is held to observe the birth of Jesus; Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus; Halloween is also branded by Christianity as a day to memorialize all the saints. Christianity is closely related to American traditional festivals. In contrast to the unique place of Christianity in American traditional festivals, pantheism has great impact on Chinese traditional festivals. There are many gods in Chinas legends. The Qixi Festival is rooted in the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl who was the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Heavenly Queen Mother. And the Kitchen God Festival is obviously related to the Kitchen God, etc. In view of customs, etiquette has been greatly emphasized in celebration of Chinese traditional festivals. Take the Spring Festival for example, etiquette can be seen everywhere: the seating arrangement at the reunion dinner, the elder giving “red envelops” to the younger, the younger giving gifts to their parents, the descendants offering sacrifices to their ancestors, people saying greetings to each other, paying New Year calls to relatives and friends with gifts, etc. Etiquette has been regarded as a criterion to judge an individuals personality to some degree. Besides, most Chinese traditional festivals attach more importance to harmony and happiness among people. While in America celebrations for traditional festivals are more tending to be for fun and recreation. At the same time, the customs of traditional festivals are somewhat religious, for example, the prayer before the Thanksgiving dinner, people going to the church at the Easter morning, etc.All the differences analyzed above between Chinese and American traditional festivals are formed under the particular historical background and specific cultural features. The following part is devoted to the underlying factors that have caused such dif