The Chinese Spring Festival and the Western Christmas英语专业毕业论文.doc

The Chinese Spring Festival and the Western Christmas Abstract: Festival, as a cultural phenomenon, comes into being during the course of human development and historical evolution. This unique cultural phenomenon embodies human cognition and attention to the natural environments and peripheral surroundings. The Spring Festival is the chief holiday in China while Christmas is the most important red-letter day in the western world. We should compare Chinese and western culture and custom, find the difference and similarity, so as to copy with some problems in international communication, also the work can help us to know western countries better, may be this is meaningful for us to improve our own culture construction. In this article we attempt to introduce Spring Festival & Christmas Day and put emphases on the comparison of Spring Festival & Christmas Day, discuss the Similarity and the differences of the tow festive as to history (origin), celebration, decoration and food. Chinese are inclined to celebrate western festivals Christmas Day, the article has analyzed the problem deeply and holds the opinion that we should know our own culture better, at last the causes of the differences are explored.Keywords: Spring Festival,Christmas,Culture 1. IntroductionFestival is defined as a special occasion on which people may give thanks for a harvest, commemorate an honored person or event, pay respect to the dead, or celebrate a culture. Every nation has its own folk festivals. Those festivals give people a chance to be away from their regular work and everyday worries to enjoy themselves and to develop kindship and friendship. The Spring Festival is the chief holiday in China while Christmas is the most important red-letter day in the western world.The Spring Festival and Christmas have much in common. Both are prepared beforehand to create a joyous atmosphere; both offer a family reunion with a square feast: and both satisfy the children with new clothes, lovely presents and delicious food. However, the Chinese Spring Festival has no religious background while Christmas has something to do with God and there is Santa Claus with white heard to bring children presents. The westerners send each other Christmas cards for greetings while the Chinese people pay a call on each other. Nowadays, some of the Chinese youth has begun to celebrate Christmas, following the example of the westerners. Perhaps they do so just for fun and out of curiosity.Although the different regions, nations, religions and cultures bring about multifarious festivals, and the means of celebration vary from one place to another, most of people bear common feelings for the festivals, that is praying for happiness and health, fulfilling the good will, and showing the love of life. Far and away the most important holiday in China is Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year. The date for this annual celebration are determined by the lunar calendar, so the timing of the holiday(the 1st day of a lunar year)varies from late January to early February. The festival actually begins on the eve of the lunar New Year's Day and ends onthe fifth day of the firstmonth of the lunar calendar, which is called the Lantern Festival Preparations for the New Year Just as the West has Halloween for ghosts and ghouls, so also does Chinese have a holiday to fete the departed spirits of the underworld-The Ghost Festival. Ghosts roam the world every year for a lunar month,  Chinese/Western festival tableJanuaryChinese New Year FebruaryValentines Day MarchYouth Day青年節 AprilApril Fools Day愚人節Easter復活節Tomb Sweeping Festival掃墓節Earth DayMayMother's Day母親節Dragon Boat Festival端午節JuneFlag Day July4th of JulyGhost FestivalAugustFather's DayMid-Autumn FestivalSeptemberLabor DayDouble Ninth DayOctoberDouble Tens Day雙十節HalloweenNovemberThanksgiving DecemberChristmas . Comparison of Spring Festival & Christmas Day 待添加的隐藏文字内容32.1 SimilarityThe Sping Festival and Christmas have much in common. Both are prepared beforehand to create a joyous atmosphere;both offer a family reunion with asquare feast;and both satisfy the childeen with new clothes,loverly presents and delicious food.However,the Chinese Spring festival has no religious backgroind while Christmas has something to do with God and there is Santa Claus with white beard to bring children presents.The westerners send each other Christmas cards for greetings while the Chinese people pay a call on each other. The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees. Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year. Christmas Day, the 25th of December, is the biggest festival celebrated in the Christian countries of the world. Christmas regard this day as the birthday of Jesus Christ, but many of the customs and celebrations are not of a religious1 nature. In the large shops preparations for Christmas are begun five or six weeks before the actual day. Shop owners like Christmas because it is a time when people exchange2 presents. This means more goods are bought than at any other time of the year. In larger towns decorations3 are put up in the main street two or three weeks before Christmas-usually these decorations are lit up at night. Preparations are also made at home. Special puddings and cakes are eaten on Christmas Day and these have to be made three or four weeks in advance4. Two or three days before Christmas, people decorate their houses with paper decorations and leaves and branches. People also like to have a Christmas tree in the living room. This is a very small fir tree decorated with silver paper and colored lights. Nowadays, some of the Chinese youth has begun to celebrate Christmas, following the example of the westerners. Perhaps they do so just for fun and out of curiosity. 2.2 The Differences Let's talk about the differences of Spring Festival and Christmas. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month. So some people call it the Chinese New Year. Though I said it falls on the 1st day of 1st lunar month, it actually lasts to the mid of the month. The most important day is the eve and the 1st day. And of cos the last, the 15th, day is also meaningful.   Christmas falls on December the 25th and lasts to the New Year.2.2.1 History (Origin)The origin of Spring FestivalSpring Festival originated in the Shang Dynasty （thousand years BC) from the people's sacrifice to their gods and ancestors at the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one.   Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family. The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations. The origin of ChristmasOn the Christian calendar, Christmas is considered to be one of the holiest and most sacred days of the year. The evangelist Luke, in his New Testament epistle, gives the account of the miraculous birth of the Savior to a virgin mother. It is this testimony, followed and believed by Christians for two thousand years, that seems to have breathed life into the traditions of celebrating Christmas, or Christs mass. In Christianity, it is the birth itself that is most revered on this day, the twenty-fifth of December. Christians for ages have gathered on all corners of the Earth to celebrate a redeemer, and to gather in friendship and humility to remember the birth of the baby that is the very cornerstone of their faith. Candles are lit in churches, chapels, and other houses of worship during services throughout the month of December to celebrate and to remember.The books of Matthew and Luke describe in more detailed ways than the other books the happenings of the holy night in Bethlehem-the foretelling to Mary of her impending motherhood, while still a virgin, and the long ride to the city for the purpose of paying taxes, and finally the birth itself. They also describe kings from the east, coming to worship the babe in the manger, the only structure available to Mary and Joseph on this evening. The Bible tells that these wise and wealthy kings are humbled by the birth of the one of whom theyve been foretold-humbled, and honored. They bring, Luke says, gifts to impart upon the baby as a gesture of good will and honor. The giving of these gifts, many believe, was the very first act of Christmas, and is still imitated far and wide to this day. 2.2.2 CelebrationNew Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. On Spring Festival time, people living away from home go back,. People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve(ChuXi). At that time, all family  members will get together to have a HUGE dinner (NianYeFan). After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting or watching TV. And almost all Chinese will stay up to see the New Year come. Oh,we can't not forget one thing called Yasui Money. It is the money parents and grandparents given to their (grand)sons and (grand)daughters to bless them in the coming year, and it must be given before the New day come. That would be a great deal of money to we students and we long before we get it we are planning how to spend it.Because it is so warm at this time, flowers tend to be the main form of decoration, particularly the native Christmas Bush (a plant which has little red flowered leaves) and Christmas Bell. However, some people do have a real tree with lights and decorations, which are put up just before Christmas Eve.The school summer holidays start a week before Christmas with children being off until after Australia Day on 26 January. This is a time when exams are over and results are eagerly awaited!Many people will attend the midnight service on Christmas Eve before returning home to wait for Father Christmas/Santa Claus to come and leave presents under tree. Before they go to bed, children leave out a glass of milk or coke for him and some carrots for his reindeer.2.2.3 DecorationOn the first day, we'll decorate our door with spring festival scrolls (Chunlian).Some family would also hang lanterns above their front door.Preparation for Christmas starts in early December when decorations are put up, including door wreaths, artificial trees and nativity scenes. Christmas cards with designs similar to those found in the UK and US (holly, snow scenes, Dickensian Christmas scenes etc) are sent out to family and friends. In many homes, Christmas cakes and puddings will be baked ready to eat on Christmas Day. In the cities and towns, many shopping centres and stores have their own 'Santa' for children to meet.Because it is so warm at this time, flowers tend to be the main form of decoration, particularly the native Christmas Bush (a plant which has little red flowered leaves) and Christmas Bell. However, some people do have a real tree with lights and decorations, which are put up just before Christmas Eve.2.2.4 FoodAs to food, because we China is a big country in geography and we have 57 peoples in our country, so the food varies from district to district. But for most you foreign friends know, dumplim may appear all around the country.Christmas Day is a time for families to get together and exchange gifts before either going to church or having their Christmas lunch. Until recently this would have been a traditional meal of turkey, cranberry sauce, ham, pork and vegetables followed by a flaming Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. However, due to the diversity of cultures within Australia, and the fact that the weather is so hot at this time of year, many people now have cold meat or seafood with salads and it is often taken as a picnic either to the country or to the beach. 2.3Western Festivals In China The celebration of western festivals in China is popular and a hot topic for years . Nowadays , western festivals are so hot in China .The festivals mainly incorporate Christmas Day , Valentine's Day , April Fool's Day ,etc . Let's see some Statistics from a newspaper survey . According to ages , the percentages of the young people under 18, over 28 , from 18to 25, from 25 to 28 ,who celebrate Christmas, are separately 7%, 29%, 46%,18% . According to careers , there are 84.6% workers of science and technology , education , medicine, 83.3% students , 71.4% administrators and office staffs, who keep Christmas .When these festivals come along , many young people become quite exuberant .They exchanges gifts with classmates , friends , colleagues , valentines. They chat , sing , and laugh happily .And they go to the pubs and restaurants . When Christmas falls , there are a variety of decorates such as Christmas trees , miscellaneous toys , vermilion hats , little candies , elaborate cards , blessings, ribbons and festoons in various stores , the campuses , offices , houses, etc . And on Valentine's Day , the streets are stuffed with cerise roses . People send boxes of choco