中西方节日文化差异英文版Cultural diversity

1、Cultural diversity,南宁二中 uglyPie,letsEnjoy A Show,Nian VS Christmas,The Origin of Nian,The Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coodination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too ol

2、d to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means year, was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.,One legend goes that the beast Nian had

3、a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people who are by

4、 no means of your worthy opponents? So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harrassed people and their domestic animals from time to time.,After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts o

5、f prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each years end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the mos

6、t.,From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term Guo Nian, which may mean Survive the Nian becomes today Celebrate the (New) Year as the word guo in Chinese having both the meaning of pass-over and observe. The custom of putting u

7、p red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian should it have a chance to run loose is still around. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.,The Origin of Christmas,Decembe

8、r 25 each year, is the day Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus, known as Christmas. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem signaled the fulfillment of a long awaited promise that God would send someone , his personal representative, to remove the negative effects of personal evil in the world . Jesus

9、 was that representative. Thus his arrival on the human scene , announced by a night sky full of angels ( Luke2:9-14), was good news. 耶稣在伯利恒诞生标志着一场期待已久的承诺的履行，上帝会派一个人，他的个人代表，以消除世界上的个人邪恶的负面影响。耶稣是代表。因此，他的到来对人类的场景，由夜空的天使（路加福音2:9-14）全部公布，是个好消息。,In A.D. 336 the of Christs birth,obviously trying to reorien

10、t the holiday for Christians.When the Empire split between east and west,the church in the east(Eastern Orthodox)recognized January 6th as the celebration date. In many countries January 6th is still honored as the officialbirth date of Chist.The time between December 25th and January 6th forms what

11、 has become known as the 12Days of Christmas. 在公元336基督的诞生，显然是想为基督教徒重新调整假期。当帝国分裂为东部和西部,教会在东方(东正教)承认1月6日的庆祝活动日期。在许多国家1月6日仍誉为“官方”基督出生日期的12月25日之间的时间1月6日形式,已成为众所周知的“12天的圣诞。”,The custom of the Nian,Sweeping the Dust Pasting Spring Couplets Having Jiaozi,Sweeping the Dust,“Dust” is homophonic with “chen”（尘

12、）in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word, just before the Spring Festival co

13、mes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.,Pasting Spring Couplets,“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China.,The Spring Couplet is composed of two antitheti

14、cal sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate.,Having Jiaozi,On New Years Eve, the whole family will sit together to make jiaozi and celebrate the Spring Festival. The shape of jiaozi is like gold ingot from ancie

15、nt China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. The tradition of having jiaozi is very important during the Spring Festival. You cannot have a complete Spring Festival without having jiaozi.,The custom of Christmas,Decorating the Christmas tree Singing Christmas carols Preparation of t

16、he Christmas dinner,Decorating the Christmas tree,Westerners with red, green and white color for the Christmas colors, Christmas comes every household is decorated with Christmas colors. Red Colored with Christmas flowers and Christmas candles. Green is the Christmas tree. It is the main Christmas o

17、rnaments, with the cut to the cedar (si:d 雪松）, cypress （saipris柏树）tower was a class of decorated evergreen tree. Hanging above the colorful lights, gifts and paper flowers, but also lit the Christmas candles.,Singing Christmas carols,It refers to the age-old custom of enchanting a number of traditio

18、nal Christmas songs during the Christmas season. It adds to the joy and fun to the atmosphere. Different Christmas hymns or carols like The First Noel, Jingle Bells, Joy to the world, etc are sung every Christmas as a part of the Christmas celebration.,Preparation of the Christmas dinner,Although th

19、e foods served for Christmas dinner may vary from family to family(and from country to country). Typical items usually found at an American familys Christmas dinner would include turkey and dressing (or sometimes chicken,duck, goose or ham), potatoes and gravy,sweet potatoes,green vegetables,cranberry,sauce,nuts,fruits,fruit-cake,plum pudding,pumpkin and/or mincemeat pies and sweets.Eggnog is usually the favorite drink for the whole family. 尽管提供食品服务的圣诞大餐可能会有所变动,从每个家庭的(从国家),最典型的项目通常发现，在美国家庭的圣诞晚餐包括土耳其和敷料(或有时鸡、鸭、鹅或火腿)、土豆和肉汤、甜薯、青菜、小红莓、酱油、坚果、水果、水果蛋糕、李子布丁、南瓜和/或苹