1、Abstract
Festivals are precious cultural heritage of different countries, so different festivals can reflect different cultures. The process of comparing the Chinese and Western festivals and studying Western histories and cultures can help people promote the communication and understanding of different cultures. With the further development of society and inner-cultures, globalization will affect many aspects of life in all countries. And Western festivals are becoming more and more popular in China. We should respect them and select the essence. China boasts a brilliant history and splendid traditions. This article discusses cultural differences and comparison between someone in Chinese and western festivals, aiming to promote cross-culture communication.
Key words:festivals; culture differences; Spring Festival and the Christmas Day; the Pure
Brightness Festival and the Halloween; the Chinese Valentine’s Day and the Western Valentine’s Day
2、Introduction
Festivals are precious cultural heritage of different countries. That is also the reason why festivals in China and western countries have little in common. As a matter of fact, Chinese and western festivals serve as an intriguing window into their cultural differences. Their different origins and people's different ways to celebrate the festivals all reflect their cultural contrasts.
The thesis can be divided into four parts. Chapter1 is the introduction part. Chapter2 is mainly about the functions of Chinese and western festivals. Chapter3 is definitely the body part. It is devoted to the concrete analysis of the cultural differences in Chinese and Western Festivals. Chapter4, which is also the last part, is set to make a conclusion of the whole thesis.
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3、Body
1. the functions of Chinese and western festivals
First of all, the naming and the origins of Chinese and western festivals are an indication of their totally different traditions. In China, many of our festivals are connected with seasons which have great influence on agriculture. New Year's Day, the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Duanwu Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang Festival and Winter Solstice Festival are all examples. Take Duanwu Festival, for instance. Except for the explanations to honor the great poet Quyuan, many folk scholars believe that it originated from summer solstice and people's worship of dragons. In the fifth lunar month, crops begin to grow quickly. Obviously water is vitally important to agricultural production. While in ancient China, dragon was believed to be the god in charge of water. On the day of the festival, people raced dragon boats to please the god and offer him Zongzi. In this way, they pray for favorable weather for agriculture. As regards Chongyang Festival which falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, it is in the golden harvest season. All people are in great enjoyment of the exciting harvest. So we can see China has been a big country of agriculture since a long time ago, and Chinese people tend to attach great importance to agriculture. Now let's see the origins of the western festivals. More often than not, we find the appearance of religion, especially Christianity. There are New Year's Day, Epiphany, Saint Patrick's Day, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. They are all connected with religion. Good Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus, Easter is to commemorate Jesus’ resurrection and Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ. We can see western festivals are covered with a strong color of religion.
What's more, people's different ways to celebrate the festivals embody their different values. In China, we pursue health, union, and harmony. Food is a main subject for the celebration. In Spring Festival, we have dumplings, noodles, New Year cakes, etc.Noodles symbolize longevity, while the New Year cakes pronounce “niangao” in Chinese, which means life will become better and better year by year. Family reunion dinner is of cause in dispensable. We also eat moon cakes in Mid-autumn Day and Laba Porridge in Laba festival. We Chinese try to make our life more harmonious. However, for westerners the way of celebration is different. They never like to stay at home. Instead, they choose to go out and have fun. April Fools’ Day is a festival for playing tricks
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and it brings great fun. Activities to celebrate the Independence Day are colorful and exciting, including picnics, playing fireworks and parades. For them, to realize individual value is the most important. They like to express their own feelings freely. For example, Saint Valentine’s Day is a good chance for westerners to express their romantic love. Compared with this, Chinese people are more confined to the old tradition. On Double-Seventh Day which can be called “Chinese Valentine’s Day”, people just can recall the stories of Niulang and Zhinu then do nothing.
To sum up, Chinese and western festivals are a window into their different cultures,including their tradition, their belief and their value. To learn different festivals is to promote cross culture communication. We should know the origins and people’s ways of celebration to understand the different cultures. Thus communication between China and Western countries will be much easier.
2. Comparative study on some important festivals between China and western countries
Festival culture is very profound. The festival customs in dissimilar countries are established by usage, with the own distinct national feature and rich presentation forms, but they in filtrate to each other. This and the western countries: Spring Festival and the Christmas Day, the Pure Brightness Festival and the Halloween, the Chinese Valentine’s Day and the Western Valentine’s Day.
In China, as spring is the most beautiful season and all creatures on earth begin to grow, flowers are blooming in a riot of color; seeds sprout everywhere, it is vitally important to celebrate the coming of the spring. As the beginning of a year, December 23rd in lunar year is the prelude to Spring Festival. On that day, all families without exception will worship the god of the kitchen and started to busily prepared for the New Year’s coming. In addition, according to the traditional habits, Chinese people will also make a thorough cleanup, which is also called spring-cleaning, to show their desire to sweep “the old and bad things” out of their house, ring out the Old Year and ring in the New Year. After this work, every house along the street has a bright and new look. With paper-cuts on the windows, couplets on the wall and red lanterns in front of the door, it looks really brilliantand full of happiness. The New Year’s Eve is the last day of December in lunar year. At that night, all members in a family will get together to enjoy the “family reunion dinner”, implied meaning lucky and harmony. When having dinner, everyone should only talking about things happy and good, avoid referring to death, disease or something bad. What’smore, family
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