-
2012
年
6
月
13
日
毕
业
论
文
中
文
摘
要
论中美传统节日
摘要
：
每
个国家都有其自己的文化。
传统节日是文化的重要一部分。
不同
的文化有着
不同的传统节日。传统的民族节日形成是一个民族的历史文化的长期积淀。节
日
的由来原因与人民的生活有密切的联系，它体现了人们丰富的情感世界，寄托了
人民对生活的热爱。一个国家的传统节日折射了一个国家的文化底蕴、文化特色
与民族特点。
本文通过对中国传统节日及与美国传统
节日重大节日列举、
对比两国节日在起
源、庆祝方式、传统习俗
、等方面的异同，例如七夕和情人节
,
春节和圣诞节。这
些节日虽然在起源、背景、庆祝方式等方面存在重大差异，但它们可以说是相同
节日在中西方的不同表现形式，它们在中西方的地位很相似。这篇文章从起源、
背景、庆祝方式、节日象征等方面对它们进行对比并分析它们的异同点，它将从
以上几方
面比较与分析中美主要传统节日文化的异同。以便于我们更好的了解我
国的文化。在保护
民族文化的同时学习外国优秀文化。
关键词：
节日
背景
习俗
象征
毕
业
论
文
外
文
摘
要
Title
：
On Chinese
and American Traditional Festivals
Abstract
Every
nation
has
its
own
culture
.Traditional
festival
is
an
important
part
of
culture.
Different
cultures
have
different
traditional
festivals.
Festival
is
a
system
of
shared
beliefs,
values,
customs
and
behaviors
that
the
members
of
a
society
used
to
cope
with
their
world
and
with
one
another
and that are transmitted from
generation to generation.
This paper
mainly focuses on different holidays in China and
in America,
readers
can
find
out
some
differences
and
similarities
in
origin,
celebration,
customs. Such
as
The
Double
Seventh
Festival
and
Valentine
’
s Day
,Spring Festival and Christmas Day. Although these
festivals are
significantly
different
in
the
aspects
of
origin,
background,
celebration,
etc,
they
can
be
considered
equally
important
in
the
east
and
west.
Through
analysis these
festivals, learners can have a better
understanding of
different culture.
Key
words:
festival background custom
symbol
Contents
1 Introduction .......................
..............................1
2 Festivals in China..................
..............................1
2.1 Spring Festival
........
.............................................
1
2.2 Double-Seventh
Day .............................................3
3 Festivals in American ..
..........................................6
3.1
Christmas
Day...............
....................................
6
3.2
Valentine
’
s Day .
..............................................9
4 Comparison of Spring
Festival and Christmas
Day..................10
4.1
Similarities......................................
............ 10
4.2
Differences ......................................
.............11
5
Comparison of Double-Seventh Day and
Valentine
’
s
Day............12
5.1
Similarities .....................................
.............12
5.2
Differences ......................................
.............12
6
Conclusion ................
.....................................
14
Bibliography ............
..........................................
15
Acknowledgements ........
...........................................17
毕业论文
1
Introduction
Every
nation
has
its
own
unique
characters.
Culture
is
an
important
aspect,
and traditional festivals are regarded
as the best form of expression of
culture.
To
understand
the
nation
’
s
culture,
we
have
to
know
the
traditional
festivals. Most
of the festivals are closely related t
o
people’s
lives,
history and
culture. Traditional festivals are the very
important part of
culture.
Different
cultures
have
different traditional
festival.
The traditional festivals in
China and in United State are growing in their
own
cultural
system.
Comparing
Chinese
festivals
with
American
festivals,
we
can
find out the similarities and differences. Such as
Spring Festival and
Christmas
Day,
Double-Seventh
Day
and
Valentine
’
s
Day.
Although
these
festivals have
similarities, they have many differences in
origin, custom,
symbol. For example,
Chinese festivals are mainly named after the
season.
While western festivals were
mostly named after the religious figures or
events. Another difference is that
western festivals are based on solar
calendar
which
is
world-wide-used
but
Chinese
traditional
festivals are
based
on lunar calendar which is used only in
China.
Through analyzing the
similarities and differences of Chinese festivals
and American festivals, learners can
have a better understanding of our own
and Western festivals.
2
Festivals in China
2.1
Spring Festival
The Spring
Festival is the ending of old year and the coming
of the New
Year. It indicates a good
luck. The Spring Festival is the most important
festival for the Chinese. At that time
all families will get together just
like Christmas in the West. People who
live far away from home will go back
home.
1
毕业论文
In China,
before coming of the New Year, houses are
thoroughly cleaned,
people
would
have
their
hair
cut
,
food
prepared,
debts
repaid,
and
new
clothes
bought. Doors are decorated with
scrolls of characters on red paper to seek
good
luck
and
praise
nature,
this
custom
stemming
from
the
hanging
of
peach-
wood
charms
to
keep
away
ghosts
and
evil
spirits.
In
most
homes
incense
is burned, and also
in the temples as a mark of respect to ancestors.
In
addition, symbolic flowers and
fruits were used to decorate the house, and
colorful New Year pictures are placed
on the walls. The most important days
are Spring Festival Eve and the first
three days to celebrate the lunar
calendar ’s
New Year . On
Spring Festival eve, the most important thing is
to have a big family meal. Northern
Chinese people like to eat dumplings,
Dumplings are the most traditional food
whose shape is like a vcoin. while
Southern Chinese people usually eat
rice. Spring Festival is a time for all
family
members
to
go
home
for
a
family
reunion,
which
lends
itself
to
the
meal's
common
name
of
a
reunion
dinner
Children
like
the
festival
very
much,
because they can have delicious food
and wear new clothes .They can also get
some
money
from
their
parents.
This
money
is
given
to
children
for
good
luck
.
The
Spring
Festival
lasts
about
half
a
month
long
.People
visit
relatives
and
fri
ends
with
the
words
“Ha
ppy
New
Year
”.
People
enjoy
the
Spring
Festival,
in this
time they can have a good rest.
There
are many traditional customs on this festival.
Waving Goodbye to the Kitchen God
According to Chinese folklore, the
kitchen god travels to heaven at the
end of every year to report the earthly
goings-on to the god of heaven. In
the
past,
around
December
23
or
24
on
the
lunar
calendar
people
would
prepare
candy for the
kitchen god to make sure he says nice things about
them, but
few people still carry on
this custom.
Sweeping off the Dust
Every
year, after
sending
the Kitchen God to
the
Heaven, people begin
to
clean
their houses
and
wait for
the
coming
Spring Festival. Sweeping
off
the
2
毕业论文
dust
is
one
of
the
customs
that
people
say
goodbye
to
the
old
year
and
welcome
the
New
Year.
In
order
to
do
this
well,
people
will
clean
every
corner
of
the
house. Although it is a ritual of
cleaning, it is the necessary ritual after
offering sacrifices to the gods. It is
also said that people are afraid of
offending
the
Kitchen
God.
So
when
they
wave
goodbye
to
the
Kitchen
God,
people
could try their best
to clean their houses to welcome Spring Festival.
There is the custom of staying up all
night on the New Year’s Eve. The
whole
family
sits
together
to
chat,
look
into
the
future
until
dawn
to
welcome
the
lunar
New
Year.
Firecrackers
and
fireworks
always
provide
the
background
music
for
the
people
staying
up.
There
is
also
the
custom
of
burning
fire
and
candles
throughout
the
New
Year’s
Eve.
The
lights
are
turne
d
on
continuously
for the whole
night.
In many places people like to
set off firecrackers. The tradition of
setting off firecrackers on the first
day of New Year has a history of more
than 2000 years. In China, the Spring
Festival is also called
the name of a
terrible beast in Chinese folklore. Every year at
this time,
it came down from the
mountain to the villages to eat people and
animals. In
the past, people burnt
bamboo to generate huge noises to drive it away,
and
this tradition has changed to the
use of firecrackers. The thundering sound
of
firecrackers
announces
the
coming
of
the
lunar
New
Year,
as
well
as
various
gods descending from
the Heaven. It was believed that the gods returned
to
the moral world with new missions
after they made their reports for the old
year. Each household would set up an
altar to welcome them back. There are
different kinds of gods in the Chinese
people’s mind, such as the God of
Happiness,
the
God
of
Heaven,
and
the
God
of
Earth,
etc.
People
worship
those
gods to pray for a
good future.
2.2
Double-Seventh Day
Chinese
Valentine's Day
falls on the
seventh day of
the seventh
month
of
the lunar calendar.
This is a day devoted to romance. In China, this
day is
3
毕业论文
also called
important
day
for
girls.
In
the
evening,
girls
prepare
melons
and
fruit
before
worship and prayers
for a good marriage.
Almost
everyone
in
China
is
very
familiar
with
the
story
of
the
festival.
It
is
said
that
the
seventh
daughter
of
the
Emperor
of
Heaven
and
an
orphaned
cowherd
were
separated
by
the
Emperor;
the
girl
was
forced
to
move
to
the
star
Vega
and
the
cowherd
to
the
Altair.
They
were
only
allowed
to
meet
once
a
year
on the day
of seventh day of seventh lunar month. The story
begins with the
handsome
but
poor
orphan
who
lived
with
his
elder
brother
and
sister-in-law.
After his
parents passed away, the boy's brother got the
house and land. But
all he had was an
old ox. The seventh daughter of the Emperor, also
known as
the Weaving Girl, was good at
handcrafting, especially weaving clothes. The
Emperor
particularly
liked
her
skills
of
weaving
clouds
with
rainbows
to
make
the world more
beautiful. The cowherd's ox, which was actually an
immortal
from heaven, made mistakes in
heaven and was reincarnated as an ox to toil
on
earth.
One
day,
the
ox
suddenly
said
to
the
cowherd:
are
a
nice
person.
If
you want to get married, go to the creek and your
wish will come true.
The old ox told its
master that several young goddesses would come to
this
pond
in
a
few
days
to
bathe.
One
of
them
would
be
called
Weaving
girl,
Weaving
girl
was
a
daughter
of
the
Emperor
of
Heaven.
She
was
very
beautiful
and
kind.
The old
ox said that if cowherd could take away her
clothes while she was in
the pond, she
would be his wife.
When the day came,
Cowherd hid in the tall reeds by the pond and
waited
for the young goddesses. They
soon came, just as the old ox had said. They
took off their silk robes and jumped
happily into the clear water. Cowherd
crept
out
of
his
hiding
place,
picked
up
weaving
girl's
clothes
and
ran
away.
Her companions were so frightened that
they jumped out, dressed as quickly
as
they
could
and
flew
away.
Weaving
girl
was
left
alone
in
the
pond.
Cowherd
returned
and
gave
her
back
her
clothes.
He
had
loved
her
from
the
first
moment
he
saw
her.
They
looked
into
each
other's
eyes.
The
girl
agreed
that
she
would
4
毕业论文
be his wife.
They were deeply in love and got married very soon
afterwards.
Cowherd worked hard growing
crops and weaving girl raised silkworms. Three
years later, weaving girl gave birth to
twins, a boy and a girl. They live
happily together for the rest of their
lives.
One
day,
the
old
ox
was
dying.
Before
it
closed
its
eyes
for
the
last
minute,
it
told
the
young
couple
that
its
hide
would
enable
a
man
to
fly
to
the
heaven.
It
told
them
to
preserve
it
carefully.
Meanwhile,
the
King
and
Queen
of
Heaven
found
out
that
their
daughter
had
gone
to the
world
of
Man
and had
a
husband.
They were very
angry. The Queen flew down to earth with some of
soldiers.
Cowherd came back from the
field one day to find his two children sitting on
the
ground,
crying.
They
told
him
that
an
old
lady
had
taken
their
mother
away.
Cowherd
remembered
what
the
old
ox
had
told
him.
He
placed
the
twins
in
wicker
baskets on a pole to
carry on his shoulder, put on the magic hide, and
flew
up
into the
sky. He
had
almost
caught up with
the Queen and
his wife when
the
Queen heard the crying
of his children. Looking back, with an angry wave
of
her
arm,
a
raging
torrent
immediately
appeared
between
her
group
and
cowherd.
He
could not get past this wide swollen river.
Heartbroken, Cowherd and his
children
could only look and weep bitterly. The King was
moved by the sound
of their crying, and
decided to allow cowherd and weaving girl to meet
once
a year on the seventh day of the
seventh lunar month.
The poor couple of
Cowherd and Weaving girl each became a star.
Cowherd
is Altair and weaving girl is
Vega. The wide river that keeps them apart is
known
as
the
Milky
Way.
On
the
east
side
of
the
Milky
Way,
Altair
is
the
middle
one of
a line of three. The end ones are the twins. To
the southeast are six
stars in the
shape of an ox. Vega is to the west of the Milky
Way; the stars
around her form in the
shape of a loom. Every year, the two stars of
Altair
and Vega are closest together on
the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
This
moving
love
story
has
passed
down
from
generation
to
generation.
It
is
well known that very few magpies are seen on the
Double-Seventh Day. This
is
because
most
of
them
fly
to
the
Milky
Way,
where
they
form
a
bridge
so
that
5
毕业论文
the
two
lovers
might
come
together.
The
next
day,
it
is
seen
that
many
magpies
are
bald,
which
is
because
cowherd
and
weaving
girl
walked
and
stood
too
long
on the
heads of their loyal friends.
In
ancient times, the Double-Seventh Day was a
festival especially for
young women.
Girls, no matter from rich or poor families, would
put on their
holiday
best
to
celebrate
the
annual
meeting
of
the
cowherd
and
the
Girl
Weaver.
Parents
would
place
an
incense
burner
in
the
courtyard
and
lay
out
some
fruit
as offerings. Then all the girls in the
family would kowtow to Cowherd and
weaving girl and pray for ingenuity.
The Double-Seventh Day is not a public
holiday in China. However, it is
still
a
day
to
celebrate
the
annual
meeting
of
the
loving
couple.
Not
surprisingly, many people consider the
Double-seventh Day as the Chinese
Valentine's Day.
3
Festivals in America
3.1
Christmas Day
Christmas day
is one of the most important festivals in America.
It is
also the celebration of the birth
of Jesus. The date of the celebration is
traditional and
is not
considered to be Jesus’
actual
birthday. Christmas
is for love. It was
love for which Jesus came to this world and
sacrificed
his
life.
About
2000
years
ago
God
sent
an
angel
to
find
a
virgin
named
Mary.
She
was
engaged
to
Joseph
a
carpenter.
The
angel
told
Mary
that
by
God’s
power
she would conceive and
bear a son. When Joseph knew that she was pregnant
an
angel instructed him to marry her.
Because of a census Joseph took her to
Bethlehem. While there Mary gave birth
to Jesus. She gave birth to him in a
manger
because
there
was
no
room
at
the
inn.
The
shepherds
visited
Jesus in Bethlehem. At the earliest
Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas to
remember the day of birth of Jesus
Christ in December 25th.
In
America,
Christmas
is
one
of
the
biggest
festivals
of
the
year.
During
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