中西传统节日中的文化差异.doc

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 FestivalsPei HaifengAbstract：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 differencesContentsIntroduction11. The origin of Chinese Spring Festival and Christmas21.1 The origin of Chinese Spring Festival21.2 The origin of Christmas42 Analysis of Chinese Spring Festival and western Christmas62.1 agriculture and religion62.2 Ways of expressing feelings72.3 Religious belief73 Analysis of Chinese and western traditional festivals83.1 The way of naming83.2The way of celebration83.3The way of feeling9Conclusion10Notes11Bibliography1212On the Cultural Differences Between Chinese and Western Traditional FestivalsPei HaifengIntroductionEvery 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 peoples celebration on each others festivals. The people of both sides accept and adore each others 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 traditional festivals and chronology, mathematics, the Chinese calendar and the twenty-four solar terms. Many of the customs connected with the traditional festivals have links with religious devotions, superstitions and myths. Almost every festival has its own unique origins and customs which reflect the traditional practices and morality of the whole Chinese nation and its people. And it is true with Western traditional festivals.Chinese and western festivals are a window into their different cultures, including their tradition, their belief and their value. Since culture is so much reflected in the festivals, it is quite meaningful to probe into the origins and ways of celebration, etc, of the different festivals between China and the western countries so as to promote the cross-cultural communication1. The origin of Chinese Spring Festival and Christmas1.1 The origin of Chinese Spring Festival Spring Festival starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. So the timing of the holiday varies from late January to early February. The Spring festival celebrates the earth coming back to life, and the start of ploughing and sowing. In the past, feudal rulers of dynasties placed great importance on this occasion, and ceremonies to usher in the season were performed.The first day of lunar years called “nian chu yi” (the first day of nian). There is folklore about the monster called “nian”. In fact, the festival stems from the agricultural production. China is an agricultural country and our ancestors have known how to crop in the fields and formed a farming industry thousands of years ago. After accumulating experience during the long-time cultivation, the ancient people find out that the proper seeds planting in springtime leads to a good harvest in autumn. Later, a famous saying comes into being “ the whole years work depends on a good starting in spring”. Therefore, the springtime becomes the time for the Chinese. Because the Chinese regard springtime as a start of the whole year, no wonder the Chinese place so much emphasis on the springtime, and Spring Festival is treated as such an important festival. Meanwhile, this festival mirrors are the Chinese attitudes to the relationship between nature and human-keeping harmony. In daily life and work, people find a certain rule in nature; following it, people set the production schedule to help plant in a reasonable way. In nature, people make development and enjoy life. After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called Seeing the New Year in.Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. Whats more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance. The Chinese character fu (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the reversed fu is homophonic with fu comes, both being pronounced as fudaole. Whats more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively ji, yu and doufu, mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think jiaozi in sound means bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means higher and higher, one year after another. The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. “The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.” 2 1.2 The origin of Christmas Christmas to the westerns is compared as Spring Festival to Chinese. It is on December 25th every year and usually lasts for a week, until a new year. Christmas originated from Europe. How Christmas comes into being must date back to 1A.D.when Jesus came into world. The name Christmas is short for “Christs Mass”. A Mass is a kind of church service. Christmas is the feast of the nativity of Jesus, is on 25th, December every year. It is the day we celebrate as the birthday of Jesus. In Bible, “There is a vivid description of the story about Jesus birth: in a city of Galilee, the virgins name was Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Before they came tighter, she was found with a child of the Holy Spirit. While Joseph her husband wanted to put her away secretly, Gabriel, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him not be afraid to take Mary as wife. And Mary would bring forth a son, and he should call him, Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins. Finally, on December 25th, Mary brought forth her firstborn son-Jesus.” 3The Feast of Christmas It is not easy to pin-point the origins of the Christmas feast, today the more important feast of the Christmas season in most western Christian churches. One can only say for certain that the birth of Jesus Christ was being celebrated in Rome by the year 336 A.D.; afterwards the feast was celebrated in other Christian churches throughout the world. December 25th is another question. No date for the birth of Jesus can be found in the New Testament, which is concerned more with the question Who is Jesus? than the date of his birth. Early Christian speculation about his birth date was influenced by the symbolism of the changing seasons, then popular in religious thought, which paid careful attention to the equinoxes and solstices of the sun. Christian scholars speculated that Jesus was conceived at the spring equinox (March 25th) and therefore was born on December 25th, the date of the winter solstice. “This is largely because they all believe in God and share similar values.” 4In many of the Christian churches, March 25th is still the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus. Possible impulse for the feast of Christmas may have came too from the establishment of the pagan feast of the Unconquered Sun-God by the Emperor Aurelian in 274 A.D. to be celebrated on December 25, the day of the winter solstice in Rome and throughout the empire. In response, Christians could celebrate the feast of the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4, 2), Jesus Christ, who called himself “the light of the world. Father Christmas It is said that in the year of 300 AD, there was a kind old man and his name was Saint Nicholas. He was always ready to help the poor and often gave presents to them. Today, Father Christmas is an imaginary figure, but nearly all young children believe in him. They think he is a happy old man with a long white beard and a long red robe. “On the night of the twenty-fourth of December every year, Father Christmas from some cold northern land comes down the chimney of the fireplace to put presents by the beds of children or to fill their stockings.” 5 So when children go to bed that night, they hang up their stockings, and on Christmas morning they wake to find them full of presents. Of course, its really their parents who fill the stockings. Another name for Father Christmas is Santa Claus. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year! Beautiful dream comes true bring you Good wishes of happiness. 2 Analysis of Chinese Spring Festival and western Christmas 2.1 agriculture and religionSpring Festival, is formed based on the ancient calendar. According to solar terms and harvest, the date for certain agricultural activities has been fixed. Therefore, the celebration also has close ties with agriculture. Though religions such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism play very important role in social life, they never match the far-reaching impact of agriculture on peoples tendency and thoughts. In China, agriculture is always placed in the first position. Through one years toil, people expect a joyful moment to have relaxation, after that they have to start a new round of hard working again. Up to now, in countryside, many antithetical couplets on the farmers doors read something like a prayer for a good harvest in the next year. As mentioned above, people take December 25th as “Christ” birthday-Christmas Day. Therefore Christmas is a religious festival. Combined with our common sense, we can draw a brief conclusion that religion must play a dominant role in western society. As a matter of fact, the religion is a center of culture and society. People response their mind on religion, meanwhile religion controls people through peoples belief in God or spirit. It is not exaggerated to say that religion is ubiquitous in all walks of life. And just like the influence of agriculture in China, religion in west is connected with daily life and its impact is obviously to be witnessed in the other festivals, like Easter Day. 2.2 Ways of expressing feelingsExpect the above differences, Spring Festival reflects the feature of the strong localization, whether in its origin or in the way of observation or celebration. The origin is closely related to agriculture. Therefore, the way of observation or celebration is remarked by a lot of agricultural imprint. They are very unique local celebration way of letting off firecrackers, putting on the paper scrolls and having a get-together banquet. On the contrary, Christmas Day is a festival originated from Europe. For the historical reason, the European immigrants moved to America at the same time they brought a batch of European customs, traditions and festivals, including Christmas Day. Consequently, Christmas Day is world-wide, all westerners have this festival.2.3 Religious beliefThe effect of history, which in broadest sense, is the totality of all past events. From the long history of China, we can see Chinese culture is deeply rooted in agriculture and the festivals are localized by the agricultural activities. It is definitely decided by the state situation and peoples living habits in the long history. Spring Festival has close relation with the agricultural activities such as planting and harvest. In fact, other festivals such as Qing Ming and Chong Yang festivals which have not been mentioned in this article are also settled in line with the solar terms and also connected with agriculture. Western culture is structured on the foundation of religion, thus the festivals have strong ties with Christianity. Apart from Christmas Day, the Easter Day is also connected with religion. The religion has an intensive impact on peoples life. 3 Analysis of Chinese and western traditional festivals 3.1 The way of namingThe first difference between Chinese and western traditional festivals are the way of naming the festivals. By observing the names of the festivals, we can easily find out the difference. “Chinese festivals were mostly named after the season, while western festivals were more often named after the religious figures or events.” 6 As we know, china is a traditional agricultural country. Since weather and season play an important role in agriculture, the traditional festivals, which were originally created for agricultural celebration, were in connection with season. It was easy and helpful for the peasants to remember the festivals named after seasons. Judging from the names, they knew how to deal with their crops at that time. For example, the spring festival is the time to sow the seeds. There is also Mid Autumn Day, Summer solstice and Winter Solstice and so on. Though there are some western festivals named after seasons like Midsummer Day of Finland in history, after the spread of religion, esp