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1、Cultural differences between Spring Festival and ChristmasIntroduction： In China, the most important festival is Spring Festival, also known asNew Year Day while Christmas is the chief festival in western countries SpringFestival and Christmas are both popular festivals around the world People celeb

2、ratethem in various ways They are festivals full of laughter and happiness. There are manycomments on Spring Festival and Christmas. However, many of them are about thesimilarities between the two festivals, such as Yan Birfs Traditional festivals in Chinaand Ren Zhongfas The origin of Christmas tre

3、e9. They mainly talk about that bothSpring Festival and Christmas are celebrated for new year, both are well-prepared beforecelebration, to create a joyous atmosphere, both offer a family reunion with a big feast,both satisfy the children with new clothes, beautiful presents and delicious food Actua

4、lly, despite these similarities, there are still some differences between them In SuYarfs paper Comparison of Spring Festival and Christmas： we can get some of thedifferences, such as different date, different ways of celebration and so on. Besides, Ithink they havedifferent origins and cultural con

5、notations I thinka good understandingof the differences is necessary. Because festival can represent culture, knowing thedifferences will help us understand why they are different and what are the differencesbetween Chinese and Western cultures. Discussing the differences is not the onlypurpose in t

6、his essay; the real purpose is that since Spring Festival and Christmas are sodifferent, what attitude should be towards Spring Festival and how we should treat ourtraditional culture? We know that Christmas is more and more popular in China; peopletend to celebrate foreign festival instead of our t

7、raditional festival. They think it isuninteresting to celebrate these traditional festivals. Spring Festival is not an option, itmust be done.1We can not forget our traditional festivals on which our culture is based.Whats more, it is our duty to have a correct attitude toward s traditional culture

8、andforeign culture. We should spare no efforts to protect our traditional culture and make itlast long That is quite important.IThe origin of two festivals A The origin of Spring FestivalChinese New Year, usually called Chinese Lunar New Year is now popularly外语 08.1文啥力20080541124known as Spring Fest

9、ival because it starts from the beginning of Spring(the first of thetwenty foui terms in coordination with the changes of nature).Moreover, SpringFestival is the literal translation of the Chinese name Chun Ji* The date of this annualfestival is determined by the lunar calendar, it falls on the firs

10、t day of a lunar year, so thedate of the holiday varies from late January to early February. Spring Festival starts withthe eve of the lunar New Yearns Day and ends on the foil moon 15days later. The 15lhday of the New Year is called the lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night withlantern dis

11、plays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. The Chinese calendar isbased on acombination of lunar and solar movements. Thelunar cycleis about 29.5 days.In order toucatch up with the solar calendai; the Chinese insert an extra month onceevery few years (seven days out of a 19-year-cycle).This i

12、s the same as adding an extraday on leap yea匚And this is why Chinese New Year falls on a different date each yearaccording to the solar calendar. Chinese New Yearns Eve is a day for family reunionwhich is also called Chu Xi or “Eve of the passing yearv The origin of Spring Festival istoo ancient to

13、be traced Opinions on this matter vary from person to persons.However， most people agree that the Nian, which means “yearill modem Chinese,was originally the name of a man-eating beast, which came out every 12 monthssomewhere close to winter to prey on humans the might before the beginning of a newy

14、ear. Having found the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, people scaredit away with explosions with fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. All these hadled to the first New Year celebrations Traditional Chinese”, which means to celebratethe New Year, literally means the Pas

15、sover of the Nian.There is a legend going that the beast Nian had big power to swallow a great manypeople with one big bite It was so terrible that people were seriously scared One day,an old man came up and offered to their rescue He overcame Nian by saying,UI knowthat you are capable of swallowing

16、 people, but can you swallow all the other beasts ofprey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?” As aresult, Nian accepted this challenge and did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earththat also bullied people and their domestic animals from time to time. St the

17、 end of thelegend, the old man disappeared. He turned out to be an immoral god. Consequently,Nian is gone and other beasts of prey on earth are scared into hiding in the forests. It isgreat that people began to enjoy their happy and peaceful life again Before living, theold man had told people to pu

18、t up red-papered decorations on their doors and windows ateach yearns end to scare away Nian in case it would come back, because what Nianfeared the most is the color of red.From then oil, the traditional of avoiding Niaif s coming back lias been earned onfrom generation to generation. The tenn “Guo

19、 Nian which also means “Survive theNian has become celebrate the New Year Today because the wordUguonhas themeaning of both pass-over and “observe in Chinese. The custom of putting up redpaper on windows and doors and the custom of firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian isstill around However, most

20、 people today have long forgotten why they are doing allthis; they only know that the red color and the sound of fire-crackers can add a lot ofexcitements to the festival. Wliafs more, red is a very lucky color in China and firingfire-crackers means something good to happenB The origin of ChristmasC

21、hristmas also called Navidad in Spanish and Weihnachten in Germany, is the timewhen professing Christians are supposed to focus on Jesus Christ Unlike SpringFestival, Christinas Day has a fixed date It is widely known that December 25 isChristmas Day and December 24 is known as Christmas Eve. The or

22、igin of Christmas isthe birth of Jesus Christ as recorded in Bible. According to it, Jesus was born to theVirgin Mary, under the help of her husband Joseph it the city of Beth Lethem. The infantJesus was laid in a manager, and Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem weretold of the birth by

23、an angel, and were the first to see the child Many Christians believethat the birth of Jesus fulfilled many predictions made hundreds of years before his birth.And for today Christian, the origin of Christmas is still the birth of Jesus Christ. There isnothing more and nothing less However, most of

24、what we do and what we see onDecember 25lheach year have nothing to do with that bless day, which many occur inlate summer or eaily autumn about 2000 year ago. Actually, most of the customs andtraditions of Christmas set the birth of Jesus ahead of time.The date of December 25thmay originate with th

25、e ancient “birthday” of the Sun-god,Mithra, who had widespread influence in the Roman Empire during the first fewcenturies AD. Mithra had something to do with the Sun-god, Shamash, and his respectspread throughout Asia to Europe As we know, Rome was famous for taking in thepagan religious and ritual

26、s of its widespread empire. Under this condition, Romeconcerted this pagan legacy to a celebration of the god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sungod during the winter period The winter holiday began a week prior to December 25thVariations of this pagan holiday flourished throughout the first few cen

27、tiines after JesusClmst but it wasift until 336 AD that Emperor Constantine officially con-erted thispagan tradition into the “ChristiaiF holiday of Cliiistmas.In fact, the true origin of Christmas is full of controversy and compromise. A furtherstudy will reveal various puzzling roots In a word, th

28、e Christmas today is an indicatorof Christianitys willingness to absorb the worlds customs and traditions, and forget itssimple roots in the historical reality of Jesus Christ. The festival today is filled withgift-giving, singing Christmas songs, feasting and decorations. Christmas should benothing

29、 more than a simple reminder of Jesus Christ but a time for showing love, respectand excitement. We should grasp every minute to release our passion and excitement forthe festival IIThe celebrations of the two festivalsA Necessary items of the two festivals1. Spring Festival Couplet and the characte

30、ristic “ fuThe Spring Festival Couplet which is generally written in red paper consists of twovertical lines and one horizontal line And all the lines convey the idea of good luck,constituting a unique form in the Chinese literature It originated in the peach woodchaniis against evil (hung on the ga

31、te on New Yearns Eve) in ancient China A legendhas it that long long ago, two brothers named Shen Tu and Yu Lei lived in a stone houseThey were two celestial being who were conquerors of-denions and goblins are writtendown on pieces of peach wood to be hung on the gate to protect a family from evil

32、anddisaster. Whats more, it is good to greet the coming of an auspicious yea匚Later on,people simply drew the images of the two beings on their doors by themselves Withferocious eyes and sharp weapons, they were able enough to scare away all the evils andmonsters Even today,some pictures of the two g

33、ods can stillbe seen onthe doors in oldbuildings Moreover, people write couplets on the peach wood to give expression totheir best wishes.At beginning time, it was a privilege to put Spring Festival Couplets on the doorsfor aristocratic families by which to sing praise of their ancestor deeds and sh

34、ow offtheir wealth Later Spring Festival Coupletsbecame popular among common people Ithad become part of local life since the Song Dynasty.It is by no means easy job to compose a good couplet because it requires strictsymmetry in every field: sentence for sentence, noun for noun, verb for verb Wliaf

35、smore, ifs would sound poetic and reflect the actual situation of a family Whatevercontents, are marked by auspiciousness, and instructiveness For example, we can oftensee this couplet on the doors of a peasants house,uJoyfiil to see one thousand bushes ofSpring flowers, Beaming to drink one cup of

36、wine of a good year, wliich well describesthe countryside prosperity and the peasants joy. Ill short, Spnng Festival couplet isfilled with good luck and great hope for better life. Today, it has a new meaning: It hasbecome a folk form to prase Social development and peopled better lifeBesides Spring

37、 Festival, is another necessary item It can be put up either in anormal way or upside down. Because in Chinese reserved fu means6fu comes, it canbring about luck and happiness2 Christmas tree and Santa ClausThe modern Christmas tree originated in Germany in the early 19thcentury, but thetradition of

38、 decorating a tree to mark winter celebrations can date back hundreds of yearsto Roman times, when Romans decorated every green tree with small pieces of metal tocelebrate saturnalia The following demonstrates is what the baby lolouians believeabout the origin of the Clmstmas free: An old baby lonis

39、h fable told of an every greentreewhich Spring out of a dead tree stump The old stump symbolized the dead Nirnrod,the new every green tree symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in Tanumuz!Among the Druids the oak was sacred, among the Egyptians it was the palm, and inRome it was the fir, whi

40、ch was decorated with red berries during the saturnalia!2Illmedieval times, the Paradise Play” was performed each year on 24 December, whichdescribed the creation of Man and the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Edenand always included an every green hung with apples, which represented the app

41、le treeof temptation.It was said that Martin Luther was the first to decorate an indoor tree with candles inthe late 16thcentury. The first mention of decorating trees came in Germany which has along Christmas tree history.At first the trees were decorated with fruits and sweets. Thenlater, German C

42、hristmas Markets began to sell ornaments, so people can took themhome and hang them on the trees. In the 1880s, artificial trees came into being, becausepeople wanted to stop the damages that brought on the real trees In order to ownChristmas trees, a largenumber of trees had to be cut down, it got

43、so bad inGermany thatlaws had to be carried out to prevent people having more than one tree. Prince Albert,husband of Queen Victoria made great contributions to introducing the custom ofChristmas tree to the British Public in 1841. During the first half of the 20lhcentury, theChristmas tree became p

44、opular in Britain. As a result, Christmas trees became biggerand decorated with bells, stars and ribbonsHowever, there was in banon cutting down trees because of the Second World War.The large trees were erected in many public places, among which the tree in Trafalgarsquare is the most famous It is

45、an annual gift from the Norwegian government to givethanks for the help they received from Britain during the war.Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, is said in western countries to delivergifts to good children during the time in Christmas Eve. It is generally described as ajoyful, white-bea

46、rded man wearing a red coat with white collar, red trousers, blackleather belt and boots The image of Santa Claus is very popular in United States. Whentalking about Christmas, we cannot ignore Santa Claus.B Food of the two festivalsTraditional Chinese New Year foodsAs New Year is supposed to be the

47、 most important festival among all others, it isalways well-prepared before celebration. New Yeais Eve and New Yearns Day areconsidered as a time for family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. So peoplevalue it very much and always present on their best and most abundant foods Beforedinner,

48、the celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given inhonor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the house hold and the family ancestors. Thedeparted relatives are remembered with great respect because they are responsible forlaying the foundations for the fortune and glory of

49、the family.At New Year Eve, almost every member of the family will sit together around thetable to enjoy the big feast. It is not so usual for the whole family to eat together for mostpeople For many people have to leave home for work The traditional Chinese NewYear food is always including fish, ch

50、icken, duck, meat and various vegetables, amongwhich fish is the necessity for it symbolizes a better life On New Yeais Day, thepeople in North China will eat dumplings for breakfast while the people in the south willeat another snack calleduTang Yiian which symbolizes family reunion and happy life.

51、Once, people only ate theses on New Yearns Day, but now they can eat at any time of theear as long as they want to. Other New Year foods include a whole fish, which representtogetherness and abundance and a chicken for prosperity. And the chicken must bepresented with a head, tail and feet to symbol

52、ize completeness. Moreover, noodlesshould be uncut to represent long life. Although all these are a little superstive, Chinesepeople prefer to believe it. In South China, the most typical and favorite dish is Nian Gao,because it also has good and lucky meanings. While in the north, people prefer to

53、thesteamed wheat bread called Man Tou and dumplings.Actually, difference places may have different foods for New Year dinner, nomatter what the food is, it can bring people With happiness and togetherness Thevarious foods prepared at this time are meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for thehouse

54、 hold 2. Christmas dinner around the worldClmstmas is always considered to be foreignersNew Year. As Chiistmas is widelycelebrated in the world, the Christmas dinner may differ from country to country. Butturkey is served as a meal almost in every country.In Australia, Christmas dinner is filled wit

55、h ham, turkey, chicken, side salads andsometime sea foods On Christmas Eve. the tree is decorated and lit with real candles,people begin to enjoy their Christmas feastIn Brazil, Christmas meal is really a feast (served on Christmas Eve) including largequantities of food, such as wide variety of dish

56、es which include fresh vegetables andBrazil nuts Besides, bowls of colorful rice and platters filled with ham and salad arealways together with. Other Christmas items include various desserts such as Nuts pie,chocolate cake, and lemon tart and so on.In Denmark, Christmas dinner is also served on Chr

57、istmas Eve consisting of roastpork, with duck and goose And the meat is served along with potatoes Then it is adessert following which rice pudding is served with cherry sauce or strawberry sauce. Itis quite deliciousIn the United States, the usual Christinas dinner includes roast turkey, beef, ham,

58、pork, roasted root vegetables and mashed potatoes. Which pumpkin pie, Christmaspudding, fruit cake and apple pie are the common desserts. All these dishes arewell-prepared and delicious. It is sure that the meal varies on the tastes of the host butcan still be ham, roast beef, and turkey is the main

59、 course probably since the Americanholiday of Thanksgiving in November, around one month earlier.In Germany, Christmas dishes are always roast goose or roast duck The typicalside dishes include roast potatoes and various forms of cabbage In some regions,Christmas dinner is served on Christmas Day ra

60、ther than Christinas Eve, so dinner onChristmas Eve is simple, consisting of sausages and saladChristmas dinner varies around the world, people in different regions have acommon hope, that is, to have a feast on Christmas Eve and spare no effort to celebrateChristmas Day. It is a festival for New Ye