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 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.
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 15th day of the firstmonth of the lunar calendar, which is called the Lantern Festival. It is to say, in the ancient China, there was a man-eating beast called Nian from the mountains, which it came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people found out that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, so they scared it away with explosions with fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. “Traditional Chinese”, which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the Passover of the Nian.
Compare to the Spring Festival, Christmas is talking about the people, Jesus. The Nativity(基督的诞生) refers to the birth of Jesus. The story of Christmas is based on the biblical accounts given in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. According to these accounts, Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary, assisted by her husband Joseph, in the city of Beth Lethem. The infant Jesus was laid in a manger, and Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child. Christians believe that the birth of Jesus fulfilled many prophecies made hundreds of years before his birth. In the U.S., Christmas decorations at public buildings once commonly included Nativity scenes. This practice has led to many lawsuits, as some say it amounts to the government endorsing a religion. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a city-owned Christmas display, even one with a Nativity scene, does not violate the First Amendment.
Now, we would think “Traditional Chinese” like that the pass year is over and welcome to the next year’s coming. There are many celebrations and activities such as we should clear the house for the coming year; we would have reunion dinner on the last day of the year. Every Chinese all excited to this day because not only all family will come back but also the children will get the red envelopes which there are some money inside which means good luck to the children. In that evening maybe some of the family will take a gambling with poker or dices. We are crazy about this because we can know whether we have a good luck in the next year or not. It is fun. And in the next year, we would obeisance to our ancestry. It is very important to Chinese people. We think that obeisance to ancestry can tell them about we will have the next New Year. And we hope they can bless and protect us in the next year. Everything is fine and smoothly. Something likes that. In the second day of the New Year, the women who married someone should come back to her original family to visit her parents with her husband and children. Then the few following day, we will go out for vacations with other family or friends. It’s really a vocation to family. Because they can not come home easily in a whole year, we all cherish the time.
There are many celebrations in west world too. For example, they will use Christmas tree, color red, and something decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stocking, wreaths, and angles. Sometimes, we can see snowmen, sleighs, and other Christmas figures in the Christmas cards. But one thing is similar to Spring Festival is that family in other places will come home to celebrate Christmas. 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.
As modern world is becoming smaller and smaller, intercultural communication thrives to make people familiarize with the other nation. As a result, Chinese Spring Festival is celebrated by many foreigners, especially in China town, and vice versa.
史晓明 QQ：285092076
本文来源：https://www.2haoxitong.net/k/doc/9c50f5ec4afe04a1b071de19.html
文档为doc格式