中美文化差异 春节与圣诞节.docVIP

A Comparison between the Spring Festival and Christmas Day Festival is a cultural phenomenon,which has been a part of many people’s life. Spring Festival and Christmas Day are respectively the most significant festivals in China and the America. These two festivals are the essences of the traditional Chinese culture and American culture. However,there has been different cultural connotation between the Spring Festival and Christmas . 1 The origin of the festival Spring Festival is the most chief traditional Chinese festival. Its history spans over 4000 years. It is intended to bring happiness and good luck in the coming year. It originally falls on January 1st in the lunar calendar.Traditionally, the Spring Festival begins from around ten days before the Lunar New Year and lasts for fifteen days ,then it comes to an end when Lantern Festival ends. There has been many tales and myths about the origin of the Spring Festival . In Chinese,“Guo Nian”means celebrating the Spring Festival. According to the tale, “Guo Nian” is the celebration of people’s victory over a fierce wild beast named“Nian”. In the ancient times, “Nian” was said to be the fiercest beast in the world that preyed on people on the New Year Eve . In the long process of fighting with“Nian”, people got to know its weaknesses, such as fear of the color red, big sounds and flames.Therefor, people pasted red paper on their doors, constantly beat drums , lit firecrackers to keep Nian away. Nian fled and never showed up any more, but the customs were retained . According to another tale,the Spring Festival originated in the Shang Dynasty .Emperor Yao took the throne and led people to worship the heaven and the earth. Folks offered sacrifices to gods and ancestors that blessed agricultural harvest. After a long time, this function has greatly weakened and is being replaced with entertainment and social interaction. Christmas is a religious holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. However, nobody