吉林华侨外国语学院毕业论文
Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional
Festivals
Abstract
Traditional festivals are the historical products of a nation’s development. Whether in China which has a long history of more than five thousand years or in the newborn America, the origination of traditional festivals in the two countries is similar. Most traditional festivals originated from people’s expectation for harvest in the agricultural production, the worship towards the gods and the nature, sacrifices to the historical characters and etc. After the long-term evolution, traditional festivals have become an indispensable part of the national culture. Through traditional festivals, the distinct cultural characteristics of a people and the national spirits can be observed. Since the ancient time, China has been a large agricultural country, the small-scale economic mode known as ―The men plough and the women weave‖ initiated the agricultural civilization of Chinese characteristics. Chinese traditional festivals are deeply rooted in the agricultural civilization and greatly influenced by Confucianism. To some extent, Chinese traditional festivals have relieved from the primitive taboos and tended to be happy festivals which reflect the concept of harmony and integration in Confucianism. In America, religion plays a very important role in people’s life. With various branches, the religious system of America is quite complicated, among which Christianity is of the greatest importance. Some American traditional festivals are the direct products of Christianity and most festivals have evolved into the religious festivals later. This paper is designed to discuss the differences in customs, origins and other aspects of traditional festivals with the similar cultural connotation, then analyze the reasons lying behind the differences and finally reflect the cultural differences of the two nations. The paper also analyzes the mutual fusion in tradtional holidays between China and the west.
Key words: Traditional festivals; Chinese and American culture; cultural differences; causes; mutual fusion.
中西方传统节日文化的差异
摘要
传统节日是一个民族发展的历史产物。无论是在有着五千多年悠长历史的中国还是在新生的美国，传统节日的起源都显示出相通之处，大多数传统节日都源自于人们在农业生产生活中对丰收的期盼、对天地神灵和自然的崇拜、以及对历史人物的祭奠等等。传统节日在长期的演变和发展中，已经成为民族文化不可或缺的一部分，透过传统节日可以反映一个民族的文化特色和民族精神。中国自古以来就是一个农业大国，“男耕女织”的小农经济模式开创了具有中国特色的农耕文化。中国传统节日深深植根于农耕文化之中，在演变过程中深受儒家思想的影响。从某种程度而言，中国传统节日已经渐渐摆脱原始禁忌和崇拜，演化成为体现儒家和合思想的欢庆祥和的节日。在美国，宗教的影响和地位是不言而喻的，美国的宗教体系错综复杂，其中最有影响力的宗教派别是基督教。美国的传统节日大都衍化成为基督教的产物，大多数的美国节日在日后的发展中都成为宗教性的节日。本文从两国传统节日中有着相似文化内涵的节日出发，探讨这些传统节日在起源、节日习俗等方面的差异，并分析产生这些差异的原因，从而折射出两国传统节日文化的差异。另外本文也探讨了中西方传统节日的相互融合。原创英语毕业论文请咨询QQ253771735
关键词：传统节日；中美文化；差异；根源；相互融合
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals
2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day
2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween
2.3 The Chinese Valentine’s Day vs. Valentine’s Day
2.4 Summary
3. Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals
3.1 Factors Influencing Chinese Traditional Festivals
3.1.1 Agricultural Civilization
3.1.2 Confucianism
3.1.2.1 Reunion and Filial Piety
3.1.2.2 Blessings and Benevolence
3.2 Major FactorsInfluencing Western Traditional Festivals
3.2.1 Industrialization
3.2.2 Christianity
4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays
4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion
4.2 The Performance of the Mutual Fusion
5. Conclusion
原创英语毕业论文请咨询QQ253771735
Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals 1.Introduction
China is a multi-ethnic nation, with the Han nationality accounting for the majority of the total population and various ethnic minorities in the minority (Zhao, 2002). According to Zhao (2002) and Tan (2003), people in different nationalities or regions celebrate some traditional festivals of their own, while among all the festivals the most typical ones celebrated by Chinese people in common consist of these ones: the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival, the Chinese Valentine’s Day, the Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Day, the Double-Ninth Festival, the Winter Solstice, the Laba Festival, and the Kitchen God Festival, etc.
Different from China, America is a multi-cultural nation with the immigrants taking a large proportion of its population and people from different countries live together and the cultures brought with them melt into the distinct American culture (Wu, 2003; Hu, 2004; William, 2007). In the system of American traditional festivals, there are festivals originating in the homeland and festivals brought from the foreign lands. The festivals in America can be divided into the legal holidays and traditional ones; besides, some states also celebrate a few festivals of their own (Ellinwood, 2005). In general, according to Samovar et al. (2008), the most popular traditional festivals celebrated by Ameri can people include the following ones: New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, All Fools’ Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas, etc.
According to the folklorists’ research, traditional festivals in different societies derive from such originations as people’s expectation for a bountiful harvest in the agricultural production, the primitive worship towards the gods and the nature,
sacrifices to ancestors and historical characters and so on, and it is unable to deny that traditional festivals display the cultural differences on several aspects (Davis, 2001; Ni and Qiao, 2003). In the modern world with globalization taking such a fast pace, communication among people of different nationalities is more common in the fields of politics, economy, cultural and technological exchange and others. In a context of different cultures, misunderstandings and conflicts are likely to arise in the process of communication when there is little awareness of diverse cultural values and beliefs. Therefore, the recognition and understanding of the cultural differences is of great importance to promote the cross-cultural communication. This paper is designed to investigate the cultural differences embodied in traditional festivals in China and America based on the analysis of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotation.
2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals
Traditional festivals, as an integral part of the national culture, possess rich cultural connotations. To some extent, traditional festivals are the manifestation and sublimation of human beings’ cognition and emotions toward the world and in the light of the universal cognition and emotions of human beings, it is no wonder that there are traditional festivals in the two cultures with the similar cultural connotations (Zhang, 2001). However, behind the similar cultural connotations of traditional festivals, origins and customs of these festivals are greatly differentiated, which illustrate the cultural differences of the two nations.
2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day
The Spring Festival in China and Thanksgiving Day in America are both festivals for family members to reunite and to strengthen the family bonds. The Spring Festival is the biggest festival observed by Chinese people. However, in the beginning, the ―spring festival‖ was not held to farewell to the past year and welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year, but to celebrate the coming of ―Spring Commence‖(the
1st solar term) (Chen and Lu, 1989). For when ―Spring Commence‖ arrived, which was seemed as the coming of spring, farmers had to sow seeds in the farmland. Just as the old saying goes that ―The whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring‖ (Xiao, 2002). Concerning the origin of Thanksgiving Day, it should be related to the pilgrims. In history, the first thanksgiving had to date back to 1621. In 1620, a group of pilgrims who wanted to escape religious persecution reached Plymouth by the May Flower (Julian, 2004). As soon as they settled down, they found they had to face a terrible winter—tough weather and lack of food and shelter. It was those native Indians that helped the pilgrims to survive. Later, the Indians taught the new settlers how to grow corn and other crops and also how to fish and hunt. In the autumn of 1621, the pilgrims enjoyed a bountiful harvest. In order to celebrate the harvest and show gratitude to the Indians’ help, they held a feast together with the native Indians, which was recorded as the origin of thanksgiving (Geng, 2006). Based on different origins, the two festivals developed with their own national culture and formed the unique customs of their own.
Among all the customs, food at the festival is the most remarkable, just as the Chinese saying goes, ―Food is the first necessity of the people.‖ No matter at the Spring Festival or on Thanksgiving Day, a reunion dinner will be set for celebration. In China, the reunion dinner is held on the New Year’s Eve, that is, the day before the first day of the first lunar month. The menu for the reunion dinner traditionally includes fish, chicken and other delicious food. In Chinese characters the pronunciation of ―fish‖ (―鱼‖; in Chinese pinying ―yú‖) makes it a homophone for ―surpluses‖( ―余‖; in Chinese pinying ―yú‖), in this sense, the fish at the reunion dinner is to express people’s good wishes for the coming year which are implied in the Chinese phrase ―may there be surpluses every year‖(―年年有余‖; pinying ―nián ni án yǒu yú‖). There are also other typical food for this festival, such as dumplings and nian gao known as the Chinese New Year pudding. The shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China, so people eat them and wish for money and treasure (Tan, 2003). ―nian gao‖, as a homophone, means ―higher and higher, one year after another.‖ At the reunion dinner, the family members sit together according to a
particular order in respect to the elder in the family. While the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner consists of roast turkey served with mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, vegetables, fresh corn bread and ends with pumpkin pie. Family members sit together at the dinner table to enjoy the joyful time of reunion. (Hu, 2004) In celebrations at home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace. Grace is a prayer before or after a meal to express appreciation to God, to ask for God’s blessi ng.
Despite the difference in the food culture, the celebrations of the two festivals also differ a lot. China is known for its morals and rituals, which are also embodied in the celebrations of the Spring Festival. Affection for the dead and the alive is exhibited in lots of ways. It is customary to make sacrifices to the ancestors with delicious food and burning paper money to the dead during the festival. In a family, the elder usually give ―red envelops‖ to the children. People pay New Year calls to their relatives and friends with gifts. Greetings can be heard everywhere among people, such as ―Happy New Year‖ (in Chinese ―过年好‖) and ―May you be prosperous‖ (in Chinese ―恭喜发财‖). Other customs, like pasting the door panels with the Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, burning fireworks and so on, all create the festive atmosphere. For the Thanksgiving Day, beside the big Thanksgiving dinner, people celebrate the festival by traveling with the family, parading, shopping and also American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional games are traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night.
2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween
The Zhongyuan Festival and Halloween are two festivals related to ghosts (Trevor, 2005; Robert, 2007). The Zhongyuan Festival, falling on July 15th in the lunar calendar, is a festival for people to offer sacrifices to the departed relatives (Chen and Lu, 1989). Since ancient China, the seventh lunar month has been believed
to be the ―ghost month‖, and in this month the ghosts are allowed to get out of the gate of the hell and go home to receive the sacrifice of their descendants. In history, people used to worship ancestors at every change of season throughout a year, but restrained by the natural rhythm, farmers had to grow crops in spring and harvest in autumn (Xiao, 2002). Then in spring they prayed their ancestors for a good harvest and in autumn they offered their ancestors the crops to show their worship. Therefore, sacrifice in the autumn became the most important. With Buddhism introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), the original Zhongyuan Festival combined with the festival of Buddhism – the Yu Lan Pen Festival, which was held in memory of the forefathers of the Buddhists and encourage the Buddhists’ piety (Ibid.). Afterwards the customs of the Yu Lan Pen Festival went with the Chinese custom of commemorating their ancestors on the Zhongyuan Festival and the present Zhongyuan Festival, or the Hungry Ghost Festival, took the shape. At this festival, Family members would offer prayers to their deceased relatives and would burn joss paper. Families would also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls would not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune and bad luck. A large feast is held for the ghosts on the 15th day of the 7th month, where everyone brings samplings of food and places them on the offering table to please the ghosts and ward off bad luck.
Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain celebrated on the night of October 31. The ancient Celts believed that on the night of October 31, ghosts of the dead would return to earth causing trouble and damaging the commun ity’s food supply (Eugene, 2006). The Celts observed the event by burning crops and sacrificing animals to the Celtic Gods in bonfires built by the Druids (The Celtic Priests). They also wore costumes, typically of animal skins and heads, because they believed that they could avoid being recognized by the ghosts, which is now considered as the root of dressing in the Halloween costumes on this festival. They would also place bowls of food outside their houses to satisfy the ghosts and prevent them from entering the home, which could be where trick-or-treating originated. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh
century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. The day is often associated with the colors orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies(Chen Kefeng，2006).
2.3 The Chinese Valentine’s Day vs. Valentine’s Day
The Chinese Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day in the west are romantic festivals for lovers. The Chinese Valentine’s Day, also known as Qixi, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The origination of the festival is closely related to the love story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The skill is essential for their future family. On that night, the unmarried girls may pray for the Weaving Maid star to let them become smarter. When the star Vega is high up in the sky, girls do a test, which is to put a needle on the water surface. If the needle doesn't sink, then girl is already smart enough and ready to find a husband (Zhang, Qizhi 2007).
Valentine’s Day is rooted in the story of the martyred Valentine. Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men – his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death and Saint Valentine was buried on the day of February 14th. Later lovers who got married with the help of Valentine began to memorialize him on
this day. In the west, Valentine’s Day is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, present ing flowers, or offering confectionery (Ellinwood, 2005).
2.4 Summary
Through comparison of the three pairs of traditional festivals above, the differences in Chinese and American festivals can be summed up as follows.
In view of origins, the Spring Festival has close relation to agriculture. Actually, most Chinese traditional festivals are derived from people’s conducting the agricultural production. In ancient China, agricultural production could not be separated from the special ―solar terms‖ (in Chinese pinyin, ―jiéqì‖). Most Chinese traditional festivals are connected to the ―solar terms‖, for example, the Pure Brightness Festival, The Winter Solstice and others. Comparatively speaking, origins of American traditional festivals reflect the influence of religion, mainly Christianity. Thanksgiving Day is related to religion to some extent, although it is originated in the celebration of harvest, the influence of agriculture on this festival has faded away, and it tends to be a festival for family reunion and showing thanks to the God. In fact, among all the American traditional festivals many are originated from Christianity. The biggest festival Christmas is held to observe the birth of Jesus; Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus; Halloween is also branded by Christianity as a day to memorialize all the saints. Christianity is closely related to American traditional festivals. In contrast to the unique place of Christianity in American traditional festivals, pantheism has great impact on Chinese traditional festivals. There are many gods in China’s legends. The Qixi Festival is rooted in the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl who was the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Heavenly Queen Mother. And the Kitchen God Festival is obviously related to the Kitchen God, etc.
In view of customs, etiquette has been greatly emphasized in celebration of Chinese traditional festivals. Take the Spring Festival for example, etiquette can be
seen everywhere: the seating arrangement at the reunion dinner, the elder giving ―red envelops‖ to the younger, the younger giving gifts to their parents, the descendants offering sacrifices to their ancestors, people saying greetings to each other, paying New Year calls to relatives and friends with gifts, etc. Etiquette has been regarded as a criterion to judge an individual’s personality to some degree. Besides, most Chinese traditional festivals attach more importance to harmony and happiness among people. While in America celebrations for traditional festivals are more tending to be for fun and recreation. At the same time, the customs of traditional festivals are somewhat religious, for example, the prayer before the Thanksgiving dinner, people going to the church at the Easter morning, etc.
All the differences analyzed above between Chinese and American traditional festivals are formed under the particular historical background and specific cultural features. The following part is devoted to the underlying factors that have caused such differences.
3.Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western
TraditionalFestivals
3.1 Factors influencing Chinese traditional festivals
China is a country that bears wisdom of generations and a national history of centuries; therefore, it is inevitable for traditional festivals to go through dramatic changes for ―it is a general law in human history that the various civilizations polarized, syncretized, and affected each other‖ (Zhou, 2006). In history, such factors as religion, literature and arts, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism from the foreign land and politics and others have exerted a significant and positive influence on the culture loaded by Chinese traditional festivals (Robert, 2007). The following two are the
primary ones among all the factors that have contributed to distinct characteristics of Chinese traditional festivals.
3.1.1 Agricultural civilization
The single, decisive factor that made it possible for mankind to settle in permanent communities was agriculture. After farming was developed in the Middle East in about 6500 BC, people living in tribes or family units did not have to be on the move continually searching for food or herding their animals. Once people could control the production of food and be assured of a reliable annual supply of it, their lives changed completely. In most ancient countries, the development of agriculture gave birth to the national civilization (Ni and Qiao, 2003). China is not an exception.
Agricultural civilization refers to a kind of culture formed in the long-term a gricultural production. Based on the economic mode of ―men till the land and women weave cloth‖ in the feudal society, people’s life centered on the agricultural activities (Ibid.). As time goes by, various kinds of cultural displays related to agriculture, such as dramas, folk songs, poems, and other sacrificial ceremonies, etc. showed up, which constitutes the rich agricultural civilization.
The agricultural civilization is the foundation of most Chinese traditional festivals. ―Solar terms‖ are the direc t products of the agriculture development in Chinese characteristics. In the Han dynasty, people created the twenty-four solar terms as an exclusive way to divide time and the solar terms were then adopted by farmers to direct their agricultural production. Based on their experiences, farmers knew how agricultural work should be better arranged according to the characteristics of different solar terms (Xiao, 2002). The time system of Chinese traditional festivals is born from the system of ―solar terms‖ because ―solar terms‖ provide the prerequisite for deciding the time for festivals. Most festivals are celebrated around or on some solar term.
3.1.2 Confucianism
Confucianism, with focuses on human morality and right actions, is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC) (Robert, 2007). Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of China (Ibid.) According to Tan (2003), the influence that Confucianism exerted on the development of traditional festivals can be summarized into the following aspects.
3.1.2.1 Reunion and filial piety
The notion of ―filial piety‖ c an not be separated from the Confucian concept of the five essential relationships in society. Originally the term ―filial‖ characterizes the respect that a child shows to his parents, but later this relationship was extended by analogy to a series of the five relationships: ruler to subject, father to son, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother and friend to friend.‖ In every relationship, duties are prescribed to each participant of the relationship. In specific, the five relationships define as follows: intimacy should be maintained between father and son; righteousness should be emphasized between the ruler and his subjects; distinct responsibilities should be undertaken by husband and wife respectively; the order should be defended between the elder and the younger; and the good faith should be kept between friends.
Through thousands of years, the concept of ―filial piety‖ has penetrated into the moral system in China and turned to be a crucial moral maxim to judge the personality of a person. Moreover, it has been reflected in celebrating traditional festivals and enriched the content of the festivals.
Reunion is the primary theme in the celebration of most Chinese traditional festivals. Ancient Chinese people observed the Mid-autumn Day to worship the moon, but over time this festival evolved into a festival for reuniting with the family
members. The Spring Festival as the biggest one celebrated over a year also emphasizes the significance of reunion, so at the end of every year people far from their home travel thousands of miles to get together with their family members. The happy reunion with the family reflects the idea of ―filial piety‖ to some extent. Based on the idea of ―filial piety‖, Confucian philosophers promoted, ―While your paren ts are alive, it is better not to travel far away. If you do travel, you should have a precise destination‖ (Robert, 2007). In this sense, the reunion at festivals demonstrates that people has identified with the culture of ―filial piety‖ and the respect s hown to the ancestors and parents by the descendants at festivals displays that people have been obeying the principle of ―filial piety‖. Other principles of ―filial piety‖ have also influenced traditional festivals. For example, the seating arrangements at the reunion dinner are elaborately planned in respect for the senior, and the younger should propose a toast to the elder in a family to show respect and etc.
3.1.2.2 Blessings and benevolence
The basic definition of ―benevolence‖ is the affection for o thers. In Confucianism, the concept of ―benevolence‖ not only refers to the affection and concerns for other people, but also has a political dimension, and it is held that if the ruler lacks benevolence, it will be difficult for his subjects to behave humanely (Robert, 2007).
Benevolence is the core of Confucianism and it is self-evident that the concept of ―benevolence‖ has influenced the Chinese traditional culture a lot. As for the part of traditional festivals, the idea of ―benevolence‖ has been inclu ded in the blessings at festivals. The blessings of the Spring Festival include the blessing to the family members and other people. Traditionally, the elder in the family gives ―red envelops‖ to the unmarried juniors for it is believed that the red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. Besides, people pay New Year calls to the relatives with gifts. Other festivals also contain the blessings to people alive or dead. Blessings illustrate the affection and concerns for others and help to maintain the intimate relationship among people (Zhao, 2002).
3.2 Major Factors influencing American traditional festivals
3.2.1 Industrialization
Different from China, America is a highly industrialized country. Following the wave of industrialization initiated in Britain, America soon became the giant among all the industrialized countries. In 1860, America was fourth in the world in manufacturing but by the turn of the 20th century was the biggest industrial nation in the world by far. In its national economy, the proportion of agriculture is much smaller than other industries such as manufacturing, information technology and other high-tech industries (Wu, 2003; Hu, 2004). It is then natural that the influence of agriculture in the whole nation weakens. With the fast pace of the industrialization in America, more and more foreigners have poured to the country to pursue their ―American dreams‖, which prompts America to become a multi-cultural nation.
As a result, with the declining influence of agriculture in the national economy, agricultural characteristics in the traditional festivals gradually disappear. The Thanksgiving as the festival most closely related to the agricultural production is no longer a festival to celebrate the harvest but a festival for the reunion of the family members and showing their thanks to the God. Furthermore, with the several immigration waves bringing abundant labor force for the industrialization in America, many foreign festivals have also been embedded in the system of traditional festivals in America. The St. Patrick’s Day is originally a festival celebrated by the Irish in Ireland, later it arrived with the immigration of many Irish people. The All Fools’ Day was first celebrated in France and later became a popular festival in America. The immigrant cultures have enriched the system of American traditional festivals.
3.2.2 Christianity
Religion is vital to the American people’s life. According to a 2002 study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the US was the only developed nation in the survey where a majority of citizens reported that religion played a ―very important‖ role in
their lives. In America, it is a ritual for most people to go church on Sunday, for the church is not only a place for people to show their piety to the god, but also a place for people to socialize with others. The most important events of one’s life are all connected with religion: a baby accepts baptism at birth; a couple gets married at the witness of a priest in the church; a man’s funeral is conducted by the priest. It can be seen that religion has penetrated into people’s daily life. Religion in America is complicated with several branches, among which the largest one is Christianity. To a large degree, the American culture has developed under the great impact of Christianity. Many American traditional festivals are directly the results of religious beliefs (Ellinwood, 2005).
This history of Christianity is focused on the life, death and resurrection of one person, Jesus Christ, the son of God (Trevor, 2005). The traditional story of Jesus tells of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem in the Holy Land, to a young virgin called Mary who had become pregnant with the son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit. The st ory of Jesus’ birth is told in the writings of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfillment of prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed that a Messiah would deliver the Jewish people from captivity (Ibid.). After the story of his birth, little is known about Jesus until he began his ministry at the age of about 30. He then spent three years teaching, healing and working miracles. He taught in parables - everyday stories which had divine messages for those who would hear it. He had twelve disciples whom he called to follow him and help him in his work. Jesus stated publicly that he spoke with the authority of God. This claim angered the religious authorities in Palestine and they handed Jesus over to the Roman authorities as a revolutionary. He was tried for heresy, condemned and put to death by means of crucifixion. On the Sunday following his execution, some of his women followers discovered that the tomb into which his body had been placed was empty. Jesus then appeared to them, alive, as the Jesus they had known prior to his death. His followers realized that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was seen by many of his disciples and followers over the next few days before, and according to the Gospel accounts, he was taken up
into heaven (Eugene, 2006; Trevor, 2005)
The belief in Christianity is the source of formation of most American traditional festivals. Christmas is celebrated in the memory of Jesus’ birth; Easter is celeb rated in the memory of his resurrection. Other festivals have also been branded by Christianity, such as the Valentine’s Day and the Halloween. The Valentine’s Day is said to commemorate the saint Valentine, and Halloween, originally as a day to memorialize the dead, has become a day in the memory of all the saints. Based on the analysis above, it is obvious that Christianity has deeply taken root in American culture, and exerted great impact of American traditional festivals.
4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays
4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion
The differences between the Chinese and Western traditional festivals make the world beautiful and interesting, rich and colorful. However, every thing has two sides, when we affirm the differences, paying attention to the similarities is helpful to understand things comprehensively, then deal with problems dialectically. In the past, we have exaggerated the Chinese and Western differences too much, particularly replace the shared values, ideas, thoughts and emotions with political system, it seems not you overwhelming I or is I overwhelming you, not you die or is I live. In fact, what the differences bring is not all ―a scourge.‖ The nature of human means there is not difference between eastern and western races, the human cultures originally have many common things, these things are imposed in interdepending, interacting, complying each other, learning from each other and promoting each other, then promote the human society’s deve loping. We know, our country is a typical land-based culture, the farming culture has lasted for thousand years. In general, this type of culture tends to be closed and conservative. The European and American cultures are maritime cultures, this type of culture is open in major, especially in the United Kingdom, after the industrial revolution, it gradually expand external, become
a empire ―sun does not set‖, many European countries followed have completed the Industrial Revolution one by one, and expand external. When the United Kingdom and other European countries bring abroad advanced technology, they also output the culture, including the Western culture of the traditional festivals. There are a number of cases in China accepting the Western culture passively, such as, a week we usually said is a week, a Sunday we usually said is a Sunday. A Sunday is the main religious activities the Protestantism have, generally held in chapels on Sunday, it has praying, scripture reading, hymns, sermons and so on. Though we are not Christians, we accept the ―Sunday‖, in fact, we accepted the external influence of the Christian activities, that is, the western traditional festival’s impact. The Gregorian calendar we used today are actually influenced by the Christian, treat the Jesus year as the AD year. Nowadays, there are more and more western traditional holidays becoming Chinese holidays, such as Thanksgiving Day, Halloween, Valentine’s Day and so on. There are also some Chinese trational holidays are popular in western countries, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and so on.
4.2 The Performance of the Mutual Fusion
Today, by the global economic integration and China’s market economy, people liberated their thought, provided conditions for western culture merge into our society, at that time, learning the West seems to be a trend, such as learning English, learning Western technology, learning Western lifestyles and so on. In recent years, the Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and the Fool’s Day have become the new generation, especially the fashion of the ―after‖, they are interested in the freedom, everywhere, unrestrained, personal atmosphere, sometimes are full of swing, and never tired. This acceptance of the western culture and traditional festivals reflect the fusion of the Eastern and Western cultures. Now the current situation continues to evolve, this is a active acceptance.
The European acceptances to our traditional festivals mainly are in the Chinese communities. Though the Chinese bring dancing dragon, dancing lion in our new year and stepping ships to the Europe, but they have not created a great impact.
5. Conclusion
This paper begins with the background introduction of traditional festivals in China and America, and then compares three pairs of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotations. Through comparison of the three pairs of traditional festivals in origins and typical customs for celebration, a lot of differences have been detected between the Chinese and American traditional festivals. Then we analyzed the underlying reasons causing such differences in the two cultures.
To sum up, the Chinese traditional festivals reflect the characteristics of agricultural civilization. Expectation for harvest is the origination of most traditional festivals. In the process of the development of traditional festivals, they have been mainly influenced by Confucianism and embodied the essence of Confucianism into the customs and celebrations of themselves. The culture loaded in Chinese traditional festivals reflects that Chinese traditional culture attaches great importance to ethics and morals in the society and the harmony among people.
In contrast, the fast development of industrialization in America has crowded out the influence of agriculture in traditional festivals. At the same time, American traditional festivals are closely related to religion. Most traditional festivals are the religious products and the religious rituals have been incorporated into the celebration of traditional festivals. The culture embodied in American traditional festivals reflects the important role of religion, mainly Christianity, in the society.
In cross-cultural communication, effective communication relies on mutual understanding, the avoidance of misinterpretation, and positive cultural awareness of individual interlocutors (Samovar, et al., 2008). Chinese-English learners must know that learning a language is more than learning the language itself, and only when Chinese-English learners develop greater awareness of the differences can they
become efficient in Sino-American communication. The present study is thus practically significant in that it helps readers to have a better understanding of some of the key traditional festivals in Chinese and American culture as well as the major differences between the two cultures as reflected in them. However, limitations exist in that due to the author’s limited range of knowledge, the covered cultural phenomena are not various enough and thus the depth of our analysis is in need of further development.