Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: The comparative study on festival culture between China and the West is of great significance both in theory and in practice. This essay mainly adopts the research methods of comparison, induction and deduction to state the differences between Spring Festival and Christmas. The study aims to reveal the social and historical experience, the traditional value notions and the innermost cultural psychology contained in the festival culture, through which people can find the connotation of festival and realize the ethnical characteristics and peculiarities of the Chinese and Western festivals. Moreover, this analysis may help people know better about the advantages and disadvantages of the two cultures and encourage Chinese people to retain as well as to glorify the ethnical characteristics and the peculiarity of Chinese festival culture.

Key words: Spring Festival; Christmas; festival; festival culture; differences

摘要：对于我国与西方节日文化的比较研究，无论是在理论还是实践上，都具有非常重要的意义。本文主要通过比较、归纳、总结等多种方法,阐述春节和圣诞节的不同之处，旨在揭示中西节日文化所蕴含的社会历史经验、传统价值观念和深层文化心理,帮助我们深入挖掘传统节日的深刻内涵,客观、系统的去认识中西传统节日文化的民族性及独特性。此外，通过对中西方节日文化的差异的分析，进而认识到两种文化的优缺点，可以帮助我们在当今全球化时代保持中国传统节日文化的民族性及独特性,并使中华民族的传统节日文化能够发扬光大。

关键词：春节；圣诞节；节日；节日文化；差异

1. Introduction
Festival, as a cultural phenomenon, comes into being during the course of human development and historical evolution. It arouses human cognition and attention to the natural environments and peripheral surroundings. Festival is considered as “ a carrier of culture”, or an embodiment of the patterns of behavior and thinking that people learn, create and share. Through this unique and specific phenomenon, it is more convenient and direct for the researcher to probe into the deeper layer of human culture. Moreover, the festival provides us a shortcut to explore the divergence of Chinese and Western cultures. Since festival culture is the precious cultural heritage of a nation, the festivals of that nation are marked with its distinct national features and rich presentation forms. By the comparison between the Chinese and Western traditional festivals, it can be seen that Chinese and Western festivals serve as an intriguing window into their cultural differences. As we know, it is impossible for us to make research on all aspects of festival customs since culture itself is a very complicated phenomenon. Thus, this paper will focus on the differences of the two representative and well-known festivals--- Spring Festival & Christmas Day to make a brief comparison.