中西方传统节日文化的差异131批次 张明艳 1Word下载.docx

中西方传统节日文化的差异131批次 张明艳 1Word下载.docx

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Keywords:

Traditionalfestivals;

ChineseandAmericanculture;

culturaldifferences;

causes;

mutualfusion.

Contents

1.Introduction

2.DifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternTraditionalFestivals

2.1TheSpringFestivalvs.ThanksgivingDay

2.2TheZhongyuanFestivalvs.Halloween

2.3TheChineseValentine’sDayvs.Valentine’sDay

2.4Summary

3.MajorFactorsCausingDifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternTraditional

Festivals

3.1FactorsInfluencingChineseTraditionalFestivals

3.1.1AgriculturalCivilization

3.1.2Confucianism

3.2MajorFactorsInfluencingWesternTraditionalFestivals

3.2.1Industrialization

3.2.2Christianity

4.MutualFusionBetweenChineseandWesternTraditionalHolidays

4.1ThedevelopmentoftheMutualFusion

4.2ThePerformanceoftheMutualFusion

5.Conclusion

Chinaisamulti-ethnicnation,withtheHannationalityaccountingforthemajorityofthetotalpopulationandvariousethnicminoritiesintheminority（Zhao,2002）.AccordingtoZhao（2002）andTan（2003）,peopleindifferentnationalitiesorregionscelebratesometraditionalfestivalsoftheirown,whileamongallthefestivalsthemosttypicalonescelebratedbyChinesepeopleincommonconsistoftheseones:

theSpringFestival,theLanternFestival,Tomb-SweepingDay,theDragon-BoatFestival,theChineseValentine’sDay,theZhongyuanFestival,Mid-AutumnDay,theDouble-NinthFestival,theWinterSolstice,theLabaFestival,andtheKitchenGodFestival,etc.

DifferentfromChina,Americaisamulti-culturalnationwiththeimmigrantstakingalargeproportionofitspopulationandpeoplefromdifferentcountrieslivetogetherandtheculturesbroughtwiththemmeltintothedistinctAmericanculture（Wu,2003;

Hu,2004;

William,2007）.InthesystemofAmericantraditionalfestivals,therearefestivalsoriginatinginthehomelandandfestivalsbroughtfromtheforeignlands.ThefestivalsinAmericacanbedividedintothelegalholidaysandtraditionalones;

besides,somestatesalsocelebrateafewfestivalsoftheirown（Ellinwood,2005）.Ingeneral,accordingtoSamovaretal.（2008）,themostpopulartraditionalfestivalscelebratedbyAmericanpeopleincludethefollowingones:

NewYear’sDay,Valentine’sDay,St.Patrick’sDay,AllFools’Day,Mother’sDay,Father’sDay,Halloween,Easter,ThanksgivingDay,andChristmas,etc.

Accordingtothefolklorists’research,traditionalfestivalsindifferentsocietiesderivefromsuchoriginationsaspeople’sexpectationforabountifulharvestintheagriculturalproduction,theprimitiveworshiptowardsthegodsandthenature,sacrificestoancestorsandhistoricalcharactersandsoon,anditisunabletodenythattraditionalfestivalsdisplaytheculturaldifferencesonseveralaspects（Davis,2001;

NiandQiao,2003）.Inthemodernworldwithglobalizationtakingsuchafastpace,communicationamongpeopleofdifferentnationalitiesismorecommoninthefieldsofpolitics,economy,culturalandtechnologicalexchangeandothers.Inacontextofdifferentcultures,misunderstandingsandconflictsarelikelytoariseintheprocessofcommunicationwhenthereislittleawarenessofdiverseculturalvaluesandbeliefs.Therefore,therecognitionandunderstandingoftheculturaldifferencesisofgreatimportancetopromotethecross-culturalcommunication.ThispaperisdesignedtoinvestigatetheculturaldifferencesembodiedintraditionalfestivalsinChinaandAmericabasedontheanalysisoftraditionalfestivalsinthetwocultureswithsimilarculturalconnotation.

Traditionalfestivals,asanintegralpartofthenationalculture,possessrichculturalconnotations.Tosomeextent,traditionalfestivalsarethemanifestationandsublimationofhumanbeings’cognitionandemotionstowardtheworldandinthelightoftheuniversalcognitionandemotionsofhumanbeings,itisnowonderthattherearetraditionalfestivalsinthetwocultureswiththesimilarculturalconnotations（Zhang,2001）.However,behindthesimilarculturalconnotationsoftraditionalfestivals,originsandcustomsofthesefestivalsaregreatlydifferentiated,whichillustratetheculturaldifferencesofthetwonations.

TheSpringFestivalinChinaandThanksgivingDayinAmericaarebothfestivalsforfamilymemberstoreuniteandtostrengthenthefamilybonds.TheSpringFestivalisthebiggestfestivalobservedbyChinesepeople.However,inthebeginning,the“springfestival”wasnotheldtofarewelltothepastyearandwelcometheChineseLunarNewYear,buttocelebratethecomingof“SpringCommence”（the1stsolarterm）（ChenandLu,1989）.Forwhen“SpringCommence”arrived,whichwasseemedasthecomingofspring,farmershadtosowseedsinthefarmland.Justastheoldsayinggoesthat“Thewholeyear’sworkdependsonagoodstartinspring”（Xiao,2002）.ConcerningtheoriginofThanksgivingDay,itshouldberelatedtothepilgrims.Inhistory,thefirstthanksgivinghadtodatebackto1621.In1620,agroupofpilgrimswhowantedtoescapereligiouspersecutionreachedPlymouthbytheMayFlower（Julian,2004）.Assoonastheysettleddown,theyfoundtheyhadtofaceaterriblewinter—toughweatherandlackoffoodandshelter.ItwasthosenativeIndiansthathelpedthepilgrimstosurvive.Later,theIndianstaughtthenewsettlershowtogrowcornandothercropsandalsohowtofishandhunt.Intheautumnof1621,thepilgrimsenjoyedabountifulharvest.InordertocelebratetheharvestandshowgratitudetotheIndians’help,theyheldafeasttogetherwiththenativeIndians,whichwasrecordedastheoriginofthanksgiving（Geng,2006）.Basedondifferentorigins,thetwofestivalsdevelopedwiththeirownnationalcultureandformedtheuniquecustomsoftheirown.

Amongallthecustoms,foodatthefestivalisthemostremarkable,justastheChinesesayinggoes,“Foodisthefirstnecessityofthepeople.”NomatterattheSpringFestivaloronThanksgivingDay,areuniondinnerwillbesetforcelebration.InChina,thereuniondinnerisheldontheNewYear’sEve,thatis,thedaybeforethefirstdayofthefirstlunarmonth.Themenuforthereuniondinnertraditionallyincludesfish,chickenandotherdeliciousfood.InChinesecharactersthepronunciationof“fish”（“鱼”;

inChinesepinying“yú

”）makesitahomophonefor“surpluses”（“余”;

”）,inthissense,thefishatthereuniondinneristoexpresspeople’sgoodwishesforthecomingyearwhichareimpliedintheChinesephrase“maytherebesurpluseseveryyear”（“年年有余”;

pinying“niá

nniá

nyǒuyú

”）.Therearealsoothertypicalfoodforthisfestival,suchasdumplingsandniangaoknownastheChineseNewYearpudding.TheshapeofthedumplingislikegoldingotfromancientChina,sopeopleeatthemandwishformoneyandtreasure（Tan,2003）.“niangao”,asahomophone,means“higherandhigher,oneyearafteranother.”Atthereuniondinner,thefamilymemberssittogetheraccordingtoaparticularorderinrespecttotheelderinthefamily.WhilethetraditionalAmericanThanksgivingdinnerconsistsofroastturkeyservedwithmashedpotatoes,gravy,cranberrysauce,sweetpotatoes,vegetables,freshcornbreadandendswithpumpkinpie.Familymemberssittogetheratthedinnertabletoenjoythejoyfultimeofreunion.（Hu,2004）Incelebrationsathome,itisaholidaytraditioninmanyfamiliestobegintheThanksgivingdinnerbysayinggrace.GraceisaprayerbeforeorafteramealtoexpressappreciationtoGod,toaskforGod’sblessing.

Despitethedifferenceinthefoodculture,thecelebrationsofthetwofestivalsalsodiffera