西方节日起源背景知识.doc

西方节日起源大盘点 ChristmasAlthough, for Christians, Christmas is not the most important of festivals, it is probably the most widely celebrated religious occasion in the West. This festival celebrates the birth of the messiah in Bethlehem Palestine about two thousand years a go. This messiah was Jesus Christ who, Christians believe, was sent to save mankind and absolve them from their sins. Nowadays, you might be forgiven for missing the religious element to this festival as it has descended somewhat into an orgy of consumerism and indulgence. Gifts are given amongst family and friends and cards wishing “Seasonal Greetings” sent between just about everyone. Father Christmas, otherwise known as Santa Claus, is said to squeeze his way down chimneys across the world on Christmas Eve and deliver presents to any children that have behaved well over the last year. Another important motif of the festival is the Christmas tree, around which traditionally people would dance around hinting at the pagan origins of this mid-winter celebration.圣诞节虽然对基督教徒来说，圣诞节并不是其最重要的节日，但是在西方，它却是一个最受广泛庆祝的节日。圣诞节庆祝的是两千多年前弥赛亚(犹太人盼望的复国救主)在巴勒斯坦伯利恒的诞生。这个弥赛亚就是耶稣(基督教信奉的救世主)。基督教徒相信，耶稣是被派来拯救人类并协助人们摆脱罪恶的救世主。如今，就算你已经忘记了这个节日的本来意义也不会有人怪罪你，因为，现在的圣诞节已经演变成为大肆消费、狂欢与纵情享受的节日。在这个节日里，亲人们、朋友间都会互送礼物，满载着“节日祝福”的贺卡也会送到每一个人的手中。“圣诞之父”（Father Christmas），也就是我们所熟知的“圣诞老人”（Santa Claus），据说会在圣诞节前夕顺着烟囱下来，给世界各地的孩子们送去礼物，这些收到礼物的孩子必定是那些在过去的一年中各方面表现都很优秀的孩子。圣诞节的另一个重点是圣诞树，在这一天，人们会围着圣诞树跳舞，这也表明圣诞树是圣诞节形成之前的隆冬节日的重要组成部分。EasterFor religious, as opposed to cultural, Christians, this is the fundamental festival of Christianity. It celebrates the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified and died and then rose again a few days later. Jesus claimed in his life that he was the Son of God. The Jews, viewing this as heinous blasphemy, had him handed over to the Roman governor of Palestine and demanded that he be executed. Following his death on the cross however, Jesus appeared to his disciples and told them to spread his gospel of love and forgiveness around the world. Despite the religious theme to Easter, to many people in the west, this festival is simply about the exchange of chocolate eggs, said to be delivered by the Easter Bunny. Again, one can see, as with Christmas, hints of the pagan origins of this festival, onto which has been grafted the later Christian message of Easter. The early pagan concern was with the onset of spring and the rebirth of nature symbolized by an egg!复活节每年3月底到4月底之间的某一天，由星期、西历、阴历推算而出；3月21日后或满月后的第一个星期天。对基督徒来说，复活节在宗教上的意义与在文化上的意义是不一样的，它是基督教中最重要的节日。它纪念的是耶稣在十字架上受刑死后几天内又复活这件事。耶稣声称自己是“上帝的儿子”。犹太人认为这是极其恶毒的亵渎话，因此把耶稣交给了当时在巴勒斯坦的罗马统治者，要求将这个“狂妄之徒”处死。在十字架上被钉死后，耶稣又出现在他的信徒们面前，号召大家把爱和宽容的信仰散播到世界各地。忽略了宗教上的本来意义，现在的许多西方人只把这个节日当成了一个互换“复活节彩蛋”的节日，还美其名曰是“复活兔”赠送的。大家可以看到，就像圣诞节一样，以前的宗教成份已经融入到了复活节当中，在复活节形成之前，人们正是利用“彩蛋”来暗示春天的到来和自然万物的新生。Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire NightThis is an English festival that takes place on the 5th November. It commemorates what is known as the Gunpowder plot. A group of Catholic conspirators aimed to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Westminster London while the King was present hoping to foment a Catholic revolution. However, they were foiled in their scheme when a guard discovered Guy Fawkes in the basement of Parliament surrounded by barrels of gunpowder. After much torture he revealed all and the conspirators were rounded up and executed in the grizzly fashion of the day reserved for traitors: Hung, Drawn and Quartered. Today this festival is very popular with children. They build their own Guy a dummy of stuffed clothes that resembles a person and put it on top of a bonfire. Finally, as the bonfire rages fireworks are released symbolizing the explosions that never took place all those years ago.盖伊福克斯之夜 (或篝火节之夜)这是英国的传统节日，时间为每年的11月5日。它纪念“火药的阴谋”这个历史事件。一小撮天主教反叛分子密谋炸毁位于伦敦威斯敏斯特的英国国会大厦，当时国王正在开会，讨论天主教改革的事宜。但是，密谋泄露了，一个卫兵发现了当时正在国会大厦地窑内，被成桶成桶的炸药包围着的盖伊福克斯。他们的阴谋被挫败了。在严刑拷打下，盖伊福克斯招供了一切。于是，阴谋反叛的人被团团包围起来，根据当时的律法以叛国贼论处，被判处绞刑并剖尸裂肢。今天，孩子们都非常喜欢这个节日。他们自己制作“盖伊”一个用旧衣服填充做成的假人，再把它放到篝火上焚烧。最后，当绚丽的焰火燃放起来时，代表多年前的那场爆炸根本没有发生过。ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a very important cultural festival in the United States. It takes place on the last Thursday of November and its purpose, as its name suggests, is to give thanks for all that we have. The Mayflower pilgrims held the very first Thanksgiving. After having barely survived a harsh winter and following an abundant harvest, they decided to hold a feast to give thanks. Largely redolent of the traditional English Harvest Festival, a significant and unique element to this original Thanksgiving was that the pilgrims invited 91 local Indians to whom they felt indebted for assisting their survival in that first bleak year. This spirit of friendship did not last however, a few years on and the pilgrims were condemning the Indians as heathen. Nowadays, the festival is a chance for family to get together and enjoy the traditional food such as roast turkey and pumpkin pie that no Thanksgiving could do without.感恩节在美国，感恩节是一个非常重要的节日。感恩节是在11月的最后一个星期四，它的纪念主题正如它的名字本身所提到的，感谢我们所拥有的一切。最早开始庆祝这个节日的是“五月花号”上的清教徒们。在渡过了一个难熬的严冬后，他们获得了一次大丰收，于是，他们决定举行一个盛大的宴会来表达他们的感激之情。在英国传统的“收获感恩节”中，“感恩节”还有另外一个重要的因素，那就是清教徒们邀请91个当地的印第字安人共同庆祝这个节日，这91个人正是在那个寒冬中给了他们极大支持的人，确实是他们需要感谢的人。然而，这种友谊并未能延续多长时间，几年之后，清教徒们一致谴责这些印第安人是野蛮人。如今，这个节日演变成了一个有机会让家庭成员聚集在一起的节日。在这个节日中，大家在一起享用传统美食，如烤火鸡，南瓜馅饼等这些节日特色食物。St. Valentines DayA famous festival the world over. We all know today that it is the festival of love, the day on which you declare yourself to the one you love. However, its origins are rather less clear. February has long been the month of romance, with St Valentines Day containing elements of both Christian and Roman tradition. There are various legends surrounding St. Valentine. One states that he defied the Emperor by continuing to marry young couples when young men of military age had been banned from marriage, and was martyred for his crime. Another story is that when he was in prison awaiting execution he met and fell in love with a girl who visited him perhaps she was the jailors daughter. Sending her a letter declaring his love he signed it “From your Valentine” a greeting that is still used today.情人节风靡全世界的节日。我们都知道这是一个属于情人们的节日，在这一天，你可以放心大胆地向你的梦中情人表白自己对她（他）的爱恋。但是，这个节日的起源却不十分明确。一直以来，二月就是一个充满了浪漫气息的月份，情人节也正是一个包含了基督教和罗马传统的节日。对于St. Valentine本人，也有许多传说。其中的一个说法便是St. Valentine公然反抗皇帝的命令，允许所有的年轻人与自己心爱的姑娘结婚，而在当时，已经到了服兵役年龄的年轻人是不允许结婚的。为此他受尽折磨，被判处死刑。另一个相关故事是当St. Valentine在狱中等待被执行判决时，爱上了一个常到狱中来看望他的姑娘那位姑娘正是老狱吏的女儿。在给那位姑娘写的情书中，他写下了“你的Valentine”这几个字。直到今天，这几个字还一直被作为祝福的话语使用着。April Fools DayThis is a festival that has become infamous everywhere. With no religious content this festival is purely about fun, at other peoples expense. The source of this d ays antics is not certain. However, it is usually explained as that in France in the 16th Century Charles IX switched the calendar to the Gregorian form. By doing this January 1st became New Years Day rather than April 1st. However, communications being what they were at the time news of this change never reached some while others chose to ignore this reform. Such people were labeled fools and became generally the butt of many jokes. The British, with their acute appreciation of a good prank, soon picked up on the tradition. When America was colonized the French and British carried the festival with them. April 1st in the 21st Century looks like it will continue to be a day on which we fools must be wary!愚人节一个在世界各地都很盛行的节日。这个节日在宗教上并没有什么特定含义，纯粹是一个想方设法在别人身上找乐子的日子。至于这一古怪的节日从何而来，谁都说不清楚。然而，有一个比较流行的说法是：在16世纪的法国，查尔斯9世舍弃了当时使用的日历，转而使用罗马日历，这样一来，每年的1月1日就成了新年，而不是原来的4月1日。由于当时的信息传播比较落后，有些人根本不知道这件事情，因此忽略了这次日历改革。正是这批人被冠上了“傻子”的头衔，并成了众人的笑柄。喜欢搞恶作剧的英国人很快喜欢上了这个节日，于是把它当成了英国的传统节日。当时，美国还是法国和英国的殖民地，因此美国人也过上了这个节日。在21世纪的今天，4月1日仍旧是“傻子”们需要提高警惕性的一天。Mothers DayMothering Sunday was an English observance whereby people were encouraged to return on the 4th Sunday of Lent to the church in which they were baptized, their “Mother Church”. Naturally, this often meant returning to their hometown. At the time it was common for children as young as 10 to be away from home working so it became the custom that they were on this day allowed to return to visit their families. This evolved into a day for showing respect and love for ones mother. Mothers Day in the USA, on the second Sunday of May, has a different origin. It did not develop from another practice as in England, but was instigated in the early 20th Century as a day specifically for expressing gratitude t