中美节日文化比较研究-以春节和圣诞节为例_英语论文

A Comparative Study of Festival Culture between China and U.S.A. Illustrated by Spring Festival and Christmas

摘要

春节是中国最重要的节日之一，也承载了中国的文化。圣诞节，是美国的“春节”,从起源到发展，反映了整个西方社会的变迁。本论文通过文献研究法对春节和圣诞节进行分析。本文主要有五章。第一章为引言，对研究背景作出分析。第二章是对春节和圣诞节的简介，主要包括对春节和圣诞节的起源的简介。第三章为春节和圣诞节的对比。中国人多通过吃饺子、贴春联、放鞭炮和收压岁钱来庆祝春节而西方人多通过扮圣诞老人、购置圣诞树、享受家庭宴会和交换圣诞礼物来度过节日。第四章是两个节日的异同，两个节日的差异主要反映在人们观念上的差异和文化内涵上，指出人们都希望和家人相聚在一起来度过节日，对过去进行回顾对未来进行展望。第五章是吸收和融合西方文化之精华，促中华节日的发展。提成要正确对待中美节日文化的交流和融合，并推进中国春节文化的发展。通过本文分析，本文旨在提高人们对东西方节日的认识，从而更好地促进跨文化交流。

关键词:  春节；圣诞节；差异对比, 跨文化交流

Abstract

Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in China, carrying Chinese culture while Christmas is the Spring Festival in the America, which reflects the development of the entire society. The author adopts the literature researching method to carry the study over the Spring Festival and Christmas. There are mainly five chapters in this paper. The first chapter is introduction, which provides the research background to the readers. The second chapter is the introduction about the Spring Festival and Christmas, including their origins. The third chapter is about the customs of Spring Festival and Christmas. Chinese people like to eat dumplings, put up Spring Festival Couplets, set off fireworks and give lucky money to celebrate the Spring Festival while Americans like to have the Santa Claus, Christmas tree, having feast and give Christmas gifts on the Christmas. The fourth chapter is about the similarities and differences between these two festivals. They are mainly different beliefs and different cultural backgrounds. Both Chinese people and Americans will get together with their families on these two festivals. They will also look back the past and hold great expectations to the future. The fifth character is about absorb and integrates the good parts of the western festival culture, and promote the development of Chinese festival culture. This paper wants to improve the people’s understandings on festivals in the China and America and promotes the cross cultural communication.

Key Words:  Spring Festival, Christmas; The difference and contrast; Cross cultural communication

Contents

Introduction 1

1. The Origin of Spring Festival and Christmas 2

1.1 The Origin of Spring Festival 2

1.2 The Origin of Christmas 3

2. Comparisons of the Customs of Spring Festival and Christmas 4

2.1 Customs of Spring Festival 4

2.1.1 Eating Dumplings 4

2.1.2 Putting up Spring Festival Couplets 5

2.1.3 Setting off Fireworks 5

2.1. 4 Giving Lucky Money 6

2.2 Customs of Christmas 6

2.2.1 Santa Claus 7

2.2.2 Christmas Tree 7

2.2.3 Giving Christmas Gifts 8

2.2.4 Having Christmas Feast 8

3. Similarities and Differences of Spring Festival and Christmas 9

3.1 Similarities of Spring Festival and Christmas 9

3.1.1 Families Getting Together 9

3.1.2 Looking Back to the Previous Year and Holding Great Expectations for Year Ahead 10

3.2 Differences between Spring Festival and Christmas 10

3.2.1 Different Beliefs 11

3.2.2 Different Cultural Implications 11

4. Absorb and integrate the good parts of the western festival culture, and 

  promote the development of Chinese festival culture 12

4.1 Treat the exchange and integration of Chinese and western festivals in a correct way 12

4.2 To promote the impact of Chinese Spring Festival 12

Conclusion 13

References 14