中西方婚俗的差异---毕业论文

1、【标题】中西方婚俗的差异 【作者】孙 菊 英 【关键词】发展历史；婚俗；差异；原因 【指导老师】程琼 张婕 【专业】英语 【正文】.introductionfolklore is folk customs and habits and has accustomed to the customs system from a long formation of human society; it is a social convention, practices and cultural patterns of civic life. it widely varies in content, in

2、cluding the ritual practices, such as wedding and funeral customs. marriage is not only a physical individual act, but also a kind of social behavior of its essence. marriage marks the end of youth, the new period the beginning of adult life. its not only related to the happiness of both men and wom

3、en in the future life, but also affects the links between the two families and the rise and fall of the future generations. so marriage is subject to special attention around the world, and is considered as a very important matter. customs relating to marriage also reflects a lot of cultural phenome

4、non.marriage, as a cultural phenomenon, is a relationship between both men and women married. wedding customs are produced, associating with the production of marriage, and it shows the social life of ethnic groups, as well as aesthetics, ethics, religion, sexual awareness concepts and national psyc

5、hological development, and is the cultural accumulation of human creation and spiritual wealth. since ancient times, in almost every kind of social culture, there are wedding customs. with the wedding can the husband and wife are publicly determined. the wedding forms subtly changes along with the c

6、onstant development of human society. but overall, chinese and western wedding customs which evolved from the traditional culture did not change a much. the following is the historical development of chinese and western wedding customs as well as the differences, reasons and the conclusion, which ca

7、n be further discussed in comparison. historical development of chinese and western wedding customsevery custom come from the long historical development. wedding custom also has its developed process. from long historical development, china and the west have their own wedding custom processes.a. hi

8、storical development of chinese wedding customthe change of marriage is an indispensable part of the social development, but also reflects the economy, polity and culture of the specific period in society in real life. china is one of the most ancient civilized countries, marriage customs in differe

9、nt historical periods are also different, rich and varied.for the wedding form, the chinese wedding custom experienced the process which was from simple to complex, and then from complex to simple. chinese ancient marriage is mainly capture marriage. because the plunder marriage is conducted in the

10、dark, so the marriage, at first called“stunning result”, the so-called wedding means“marry when faint” 1.because the brutal plundering marriage with a barbarous strong color, coupling with various conditions, the wedding in the initial sense was very simple. with the progress of human civilization a

11、nd political and economic development, weddings gradually become an important ritual in life, and its forms were increasingly complex with enhance of their status. from the yanhuang great to the may fourth movement, chinese wedding custom had been preserving the chinese traditional wedding custom. a

12、ccording to the confucian classics recorded，our traditional marriage betrothal rites, the most prominent, most notably“ six rites”, they were, proposing, asking the name, asking for fortune,sending betrothal presents to the girls family, discussing the date of marriage, meeting the bride.“six rites”

13、, the marrying forms, had been established in zhou dynasty, first seen in“the book of rites? faint justice”. its contents of instrument notes are more complex. marriage can deeply reflect the confucian culture in our country, but there were so-called“ritual no less than common people”, the frame, di

14、d not reach in the folk. to the han dynasty, six rites began to be universal applied. the later generations mostly followed zhou, but the items and content changed a little. the six wedding ceremony employed from pre-qin era in the later were generally simple and combinable. this is also one of the

15、manifestations of social progress. but chinas first turning point of marriage system should be the same as the beginning of modern chinese history. after the opium war, china began to become a semi-colonial semi-feudal society, and the treaty ports provided a shortcut for the bringing in of the vari

16、ety of imported western culture. old culture and new culture, colliding with each other violently, gradually integrated in the exchange. learning from the west using in china, which had become a microcosm and synonymous of an era. marriage system is no exception. by the late 19th century, civilized

17、marriage form in big cities and coastal trading ports became popular. the popularity of civilized marriage in the treaty ports and coastal towns reflected the changes in marriage customs in china, representing the change in the right direction.but seen from overall, traditional chinese marriage cust

18、oms still occupy the mainstream of chinese marriage customs.different era wedding, circulating this statement:“eighties must have san zhuan yi xiang, nineties must have san dian yi lun and the 21st century must have san zi yi ben”. through this lively variations marriage changes, people truly feel t

19、hat times are changing, society is progressing. at present more and more attention to the wedding sentiment, stress personality on ceremony, pay attention to the romantic. luxury fleet, elegant dress become the capital to show off. marriage photo, marriage honeymoon, all these steps will spend tens

20、of thousands. this has to be said that this is because social and economic development, but also the style of luxury comparisons of“evil”.b. historical development of western wedding customas early as the16th century, the marriage was often arranged by their parents or guardians, this tradition had

21、continued into the 19th century. before marriage, the bride and groom were not familiar with each other. they were still very young(three to seven years old), and in this period their parents set for them from matchmakers request, and arrange for engagement and wedding issues. each child lived with

22、their own parents, and occasionally in the feasts or holidays occasions only to meet one another.at the end of the17th century, this prenatal arranged marriage was under attack. the origin was a judge insisting that the age of seven before the wedding and engagement“completely null and void”. 2 howe

23、ver, if the two children after seven years old addressed“husband” and“wife” to each other respectively, embraced each other, kissed each other and sent presents and accepted presents, their engagement and wedding was considered valid.still later, young couples run away just held a secret wedding, so

24、 they did not announce the wedding announcement, and did not receive a marriage certificate. elopement and secret wedding ceremony symbolized the beginning of the arranged marriage of the rebellion of young people.according to civil marriage act adopted by the puritan under the leadership of oliver

25、cromwell in 1653, both men and women getting married must hold in a secular ceremony, and had the presence of a magistrate before marriage but also to show the certificate announced in the parish diary notice about the statement of marriage.3 in addition, if one of them was under the age of 21, they

26、 must also produce evidence of this pile of marriage of parental consent. the wedding ceremony was simple and as long as both men and women repeated several times, throughout the course of the ceremony the groom and the bride must pull together by hands. at that time, rings were still prohibited.175

27、3s“hardwicke act”(hardwicke act) required the wedding of all the people(except the members of the royal family) only under the announcement of the wedding announcement or obtaining a marriage certificate of marriage can only be held at the time 8:00 to 12:00.the sites can only be the anglican church

28、 or the chapel, and the couple must oath facing the church of england priest. there, wedding must be more than two witnesses, and record must be kept in the whole process. in addition, if they did not declare marriage announcement, they must get parental consent.4the roman catholic church was adheri

29、ng to the“conference on trent”(council of trent) to reiterate the marriage is to one of the seven sacraments of man, once the marriage form, it would not be dismantled.5until the early 90s of 20th century, it was difficult for the people of great britain to marry. if someone wanted to get married in

30、 england or wales, the marriage must be held in church, which had notebook(similar to the license marriage certificate), and the wedding party must only in the area(county area), where one of their family lived in. obviously, only all parishes in the church of england(anglican), were automatically r

31、egistered, regardless of the size. this is reality, without consulting any person. differences of chinese and western wedding customschina and the west attach importance to the wedding customs, but the importance differ from so many aspects, such as the purpose, the marriage media, the wedding dress

32、, the wedding procedure and so on.a. different purpose of marriagethe main purpose of getting marriage in china is to continue the male offspring. the so-called“there are three forms of filial impiety, of which the most serious is to have no heir” reflects the importance to serve ancestors. and the

33、filial piety is traditional virtues.in western countries, they are influenced deeply by religion, especially the christianity. they think that it is the god who has created marriage. there are three purposes of the marriage.first, the couple is lifelong companion with each other; they serve god toge

34、ther. then get married, start career and produce an heir to carry on the pious descendants. the final purpose is to carry on the pious descendants to serve to god. so they do not stress the blood relationship. they can remedy the defect of non-child by adopting other children.b. different marriage m

35、edia1. chinese marriage media: matchmakermatchmaker has many functions in china. almost in every process in marriage in old times, the matchmaker would attend. first, it was the matchmaker that introduced a man to a woman or a woman to a man, most the former. if matchmaker did not introduce them to

36、each other, they would not know about each other for ever. if some accident event happened, that is they knew each other not through the matchmaker, they would be called“committing adultery with each other“or“a thief if a man and a whore if a woman”. 6 second, the other procedures after introduction

37、 in marriage were also done by the matchmaker.there were three conditions in marriage in old china that were the matchmakers proposals, six gifts and meet, people kept honoring the ancestors as the center in these three conditions. the regulation of listening to matchmakers proposals was the rule th

38、at people must abide by. the reason was not only the function the matchmaker had in society, but also the meaning that the matchmaker had in later generation reproduction.2. western marriage media: priestin christians opinions, wedding ceremony is considered as an important way to get gods save and

39、wedding ceremony is a very important part of marriage. priest plays an essential role in it. and marriage is not valid, unless the ceremony is hosted by priest. there are three conditions in marriage too. first, there should be some correct things that will be used in church; second, correct means t

40、o go to church especially correct reading prayer book; third, correct motive to go to church which emphasizes action by churchs order. it can be seen that church is important in western peoples eyes, so the priest is necessary when holding a marriage. and marriage is tinged with mystery because of t

41、hese conditions.c. different wedding dresses1. chinese wedding dress: red bridal gownin china, the red color symbolizes joyousness and happiness, so in chinese traditional wedding ceremony, bride and groom wear the red color dresses, what the bride wears is called red bridal gown. and their dresses

42、must have the dragon and phoenix patterns, which play very important role in chinese traditional wedding dresses. in ancient china tale, the dragon stands for male and the phoenix stands for female, and both dragon and phoenix indicate lucky. because of the dragon is the emperors individual symbol,

43、so only bride wears the phoenix red dress, and the groom wear a big red flower on his left chest.2. western wedding dress: white wedding gownin western traditional wedding dresses, the white color is common used in wedding dresses. from the roman emperors, the white color symbolized pleasure and joy

44、ousness. between the years 1850-1900, the white color was the symbol of richness. until the beginning of last century, the most important and typical meaning of the white color symbolized purity and the western people believed that the white color is related to chastity. in early times, only the nob

45、les had the right to wear the white wedding dress. and in victorian times, only the higher rank can wear the white wedding dress, because, at that time, the white color symbolized the right and status, the other lower rank including the bride can not wear. until the aristocracy disappear, the white

46、wedding dresses was common used by the bride.except the white wedding dresses, in ancient western society, the bride can prepare some specialties: they are“something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue”.“something old” refers to the white mantilla which her mother used. this ex

47、presses her gratitude for her mothers nurturance.“something new” means the wedding dress must be new, it is the symbol of virginity and this is also indicates the bride will have new life.“something borrowed refers to the handkerchief of the bride must be borrowed from her best female friends, which

48、 stands for the unforgettable friendship.“something blue”, the ribbon of the bride must be blue, which indicates loyalty to her husband. and the groom usually wear suit.d. different preparations before getting married1. the preparations before marriage agreement in chinalike other folk, marriage cus

49、tom has the same development and evolving process. in the early days of humanity, the human relationship in a very long period of time still carried the irregular relations like the animal world. there was no marriage at all, if suggest some, the only“arbitrary marriage.” in china, marriage has gone

50、 through a long time. as a most grand etiquette, it has always been a high degree of attention to. since the beginning of zhou, to control the marriage, dynasty the family and the whole society regulated that chinese marriage should comply with the six procedures, they are so-called the“six etiquett

51、es.” and later in tang and ming dynasty in china, marriage also complied with the“six etiquettes”. as time goes by, although many wedding customs experienced various changes,“six etiquettes” as the basic pattern has not changed much. it is still essential and core in marriage custom. marriage has ch

52、anged much today, but in many places there still remains traditional marriage custom.in feudal society, marriage would be decided not by the youths love, but by the desires of their parents. only after a matchmakers introduction and when parents considered the two family conditions were similar and

53、could be matched, would the marriage procedures went forward. conditions that should be taken into consideration included wealth and social status. if a boys family was well-off or an official family, his parents would never permit him to marry a girl from a poor family. essential to the marriage pr

54、ocess were the commonly recognized“three letters and six etiquettes”. the three letters were the betrothal letter, the gift letter with a gifts list and the wedding letter used on the day when the bridegroom met his bride at her home. the book propriety and ceremony, which records earliest wedding c

55、eremony, says that marriage, usually, involves six necessary procedures, namely, proposing, asking the name, asking for fortune, sending betrothal present to girls family, discussing date of marriage and meeting the bride. first, proposing is the first etiquette in marriage and is the first meet bet

56、ween the members in the two families. thus, it is very important. using a common expression, it is making an offer of marriage to another family on behalf of the son or daughter.second, asking the name aims to ask for girls name and pray. in ancient times the girls name would not be known by other p

57、eople until the girl was in an age of marriage. first of all, one must have the matchmaker and inform of the mans family through a card. and the mans family would lastly receipt for postal remittance. thus it can be seen that“asking the name” not only meant that the mans family wanted to know the gi

58、rls name, but also wrote down the womans birthday and eight-characters(in four pairs denoting the time, date, month and year of a persons birth, each pair consisting of one heavenly stem and one earthly branch, used in fortune-telling). if the birthday and eight-characters were not harm the man, the

59、 mans family would lastly receipt for postal remittance. it has been simplified today and many marriages do not need this process.third, after asking the name, the bridegrooms side had got the womans birthday and eight-characters and they went to consult a fortune-teller then which was called“asking for fortune”. it included two aspects of contents. one was consult the female virtues