篇一：中西方节日文化差异：重阳节和母亲节
1. Introduction
Festivals are a kind of folk-custom culture that is created by the world people to adapt the requirement of production and livelihood. It is one of the important parts of world folk-custom culture. It includes the character, mentality, belief, ideas, thinking, moral character, appreciation of the national history, and the value of national culture, and it shows the most prominent and the most characteristic existence form of a nation. The formative process of traditional festivals is a process of condensed accumulation of a nation or country’s historical culture. In the festival customs handed down to us from our ancestors, we can obviously see the marvelous picture of social life of the ancient people. Different countries and nations have rich and colorful festivals, even in the same country and nation, different areas have the different festival customs. So knowing some differences and relation of cultural source have profound meaning to promote the communication of oriental and Western culture and also promote the oriental nation and Western nation get on much better with each other. Festival culture is very profound. The festival customs in dissimilar countries are established by usage, with the own distinct national features and rich presentation forms, but they infiltrate to each other. This text deal with the perpetual char(本文来自：WWW.xiaocaoFanwEn.cOM 小草范文网:西方的母亲节)m of the customs by comparing festival culture between China and the Western countries: the Double Ninth Festival and Mother’s Day. Also hoping we can understand the Chinese culture and the meaning of foreign culture much more objective, so that we can improve our ability of cross-culture communication.
2. The differences between Chinese and Western festival culture
2.1 Difference of religious belief
Western festivals have obviously religious feature. It is a unary monotheistic religion. The people think the God is the creator of all things in the world, and He doesn’t allow people to worship other gods, and it is also unnecessary for people to worship other gods. Human life is just a process, people’s good fortune or bad fortune and wealth or poverty is god’s innate gift rather than people’s begging. On the contrary, the most important cultural character of Chinese traditional festival is
fiercely secular, in other words, it is ueligious because in early China the social structure is established on the combination of natural worship and humanistic spirit, people stand for the balance and harmony between gods and human beings, this is different from Western ancient god socialist and modern humanism. The Chinese traditional world outlook embodies the admiration for ancestors and advocacy of life, thus it is every Chinese original mission to carry forward and further develop the ancestor’s spirit and material heritage. However, in the view of Christian civilization, everyone is responsible to the God or they are responsible for their own action in order to acquire the God’s forgiveness or favor, and then they can get into heaven after they die.
2.2 Difference of ethical culture
In Oriental and Western society, the ways of development are different, as a consequence the ethical culture is certainly different. China is a multinational country that has a history of five thousand years. The leading Chinese traditional culture is Confucianism, meanwhile, it includes various schools of thoughts since ancient China. Western culture is mainly about Christian culture. Chinese traditional festival contains rich ethical elements; the main function of festival is inheriting moral principles rather than giving people the opportunity to provide entertainment and leisure. For example, on the Double Ninth Festival, people in some areas generally have the habit of offering sacrifices to an ancestor. By contrast, the ethical feature of a Western festival is not obvious, it emphasizes entertainment function, and it can offer the entertainment opportunity to modern people. Western festival pays more attention to individual spirit and displaying the personality. These can easily be accepted by people with any cultural background. For example, equality between male and female and the idea of woman’s rights are also reflected in Western festivals, such as Mother’s Day, this festival can’t exist in Chinese traditional Confucianism culture.
3. The origins
Everything in the world has its origins, festival is no exception. Festival is also a part of culture which forms in a particular period, and has the relationship with the
productivity and production relations at that time. Here follows the origin of the Double Ninth Festival and Mother’s Day together.
3.1 The origin of the Double Ninth Festival
The Double Ninth Festival is our national traditional festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. Why is it called ―Chung Yang‖? Because in ancient China people regarded odd numbers as ―Yang‖ and even numbers as ―Yin‖. According to The Book of Changes, nine is the Yang number, it is called ―Ji Yang‖. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, there are double ―Yang‖ — the date and month both nine, so this day is named ―Chung Yang‖ or ―Double Ninth‖.
The origin of the Double Ninth Festival can be dated back to ancient China, it has at least two thousand years’ history.
In Warring States Period, people had the custom of eating the food that is cooked with chrysanthemum.
In Han dynasty, the custom of the Double Ninth became increasingly popular. It is said that in Han dynasty, Han Gao Zu Liu Bang’s imperial concubine Mrs. Qi was killed cruelly by the empress Lv Zhi. Following that, one of Mrs. Qi’s maid servants whose name is Jia Peilan was dismissed from the palace, then she married a civilian. So she brought the activity of Double Ninth from the Palace to the common people. She told people that every year on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, in the palace the emperor and his attendants would wear Zhu Yu plant on hair, eat rice cakes and drink wine or chrysanthemum tea to dispel bad omens and pray for longevity.
In the period of the Three Kingdoms, people gradually had the custom of hiking. In the period of Weijin, on the Double Ninth Festival there were customs of appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine.
To the Tang dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was regarded officially as a folk festival, the activity of the festival became more and more colorful and rich. People on that day must drink chrysanthemum wine and wear Zhu Yu plant on the head or arms.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Double Ninth Festival
was also called the Senior Citizen’s Day. In 1989, the holiday was called officially after the Senior Citizen’s Day. Every year the Double Ninth Festival is also the day to show the respect to the elders. The Chinese nation has the traditional virtue about having the greatest esteem for old people. So, on this day most places organized the old people to climbing the mountains in order to communication and physical exercising.
3.2 The origin of Mother’s Day
The festival that shows the respect to mother in Western countries appeared in the Middle Age. In Europe, there were several long standing traditions where a special Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, include Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar is marked as Laetare Sunday, which is the fourth Sunday in Lent (in the Christian church, the period of 40 days from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter, during which some Christians give up food or activities, that they enjoy in memory of Christ’s suffering). Children and young people who were ―in service‖ (servants in richer households) were given a day off on that date so they could visit their families. Children would pick wild flowers along the way to place them in the church or to give them to their mother as gifts, and people would eat Simnel cake that is also called Mothering cake.
The Mothering Sunday was ignored when the early immigrates came to American continent. Until the end of the nineteenth century, Julia Ward Howe raked the opinion of the Mothering Sunday up. She felt the inhumanity of the war during the Franco-Prussian War, so she decided to use the way of ―mother‖ to solve the conflict of the war. And in 1870, she wrote Mother’s Day Proclamation. In 1834, the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a stamp commemorating the festival.
In the present form, Mother’s Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother Ann Jarvis on May 9, 1905, with the help of Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. A small service was held in May 12, 1907 in the Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia where Anna’s
mother had been teaching Sunday school. But the first official service was in May 10, 1908 in the same church, accompanied by a large ceremony in the Wanamaker Auditorium in the Wanamaker’s store on Philadelphia. She then campaigned to establish Mother’s Day first as a U.S. national holiday and then later as an international holiday.
The holiday was declared officially by the state of West Virginia in 1910, and the rest of states followed quickly. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and requesting a proclamation. On May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother’s Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
Now, in the United States, Mother’s Day remains one of the biggest days for sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; it is also the biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls.
4. The historical evolution of two festivals
Although the creation of the most festival customs depends on belief, in the process of the development, the belief was almost discarded. There are two kinds of cases, one is keeping the original belief, the fate of the original belief is endangerment or existing in a narrow faith circle, the other is the component of the belief become unimportance, but not disappears, and the component of appreciation and entertainment become the dominant part. This is the progress of the development of the most festival customs. With the development of the society and times, whether it is Chinese traditional festivals or Western festivals, the festivals’ specific connotation and form of expression have changed, some even are given some new substances and meaning.
4.1 The Double Ninth Festival
Like other festivals, the Double Ninth Festival also has an old legend.
It is said that during East Han dynasty, in a small village in Henan province there was a monster, when he appeared, every family would have people get ill, and
篇二：西方主要节日
西方主要节日
1.情人节（Valentine's Day）又称“瓦伦丁节”
每年2月14日是美国的情人节。这一习俗远溯到古罗马的“牧神节”。为纪念畜牧之神卢泊库斯的功绩，每逢这一天人们总要举行各种舞会和游戏。特别是在抽签游戏中，每个男青年可以从“签筒”中抽出写有某少女名字的签，被抽中的姑娘便成了他的情人。这种有趣的节日游戏，后来渐渐取代了“牧神节”的意义，而成了青年恋人的节日，并由此传到了英、法等西欧各国。在英国，瓦伦丁节习俗的一个重要特征则是在这天你看见的第一位异性则成为你的情人。传到美国，经过几个世纪的演变，它已完全成为人们互相交流感情的节日。在这一天人们制作购买精美工艺美术品，如鲜花、画片、信片等礼物，内藏甜言蜜语，用以交流情感。因此它是一个爱情的节日，友谊的节日，欢乐的节日。
2.复活节（Easter）
复活节是基督教纪念耶稣复活的节日。传说耶稣为了拯救处于奴隶制社会的人类，受上帝的派遣而降世成人。在巴勒斯坦等地宣传基督教时，耶稣被古罗马帝国驻犹太总督本丢·彼拉多钉死在十字架上。由于耶稣是神灵，在死后第三日便复活升天。该节期一般为每年春分月圆后的第一个星期日。此节成为欧美各国仅次于圣诞节的重大节日。节日期间亲人团聚，驱车出游，尽情欢乐。
复活节的像征物为：小白兔（bunny），彩蛋（coloured boiled egg）和糖豆（jelly bean）。
3.愚人节（April Fool's Day）
每年4月1日是英国传统的愚人节。在这天中午12点以前，人们可以尽情地互相捉弄和欺骗。受骗者被人戏称为“傻瓜”、“笨蛋”（fool）！对此，人们不但不以为然，反而感到高兴。这一习俗起源于英国，后来由于其独特的情趣，逐渐传至西欧各地，并受到人们的喜爱。
在愚人节里，不仅男女老幼之间互相愚弄，谎骗而取乐，就连电视、电台和报纸偶尔也会精心设计“假报道”来骗观众、听众和读者。
4.母亲节（Mother's Day）
每年五月的第二个星期天为美国人的母亲节。
1906年5月9日，美国费城一位名叫安娜·查维斯女子的慈母去世了，她母亲原是一位教员。第二年，当查维斯在一教堂中举行纪念祈祷会时，提议全国在每年订出一天来表示对所有母亲的纪念和尊敬。她说：“她们受苦最多，所得到的报答最少。平时我们想不到尊敬她，直到她离去后才省悟。”1913年5月10日美国国会通过一项法令，决定每年五月第二个星期天为“母亲节”。
在这一天，人们到教堂去做礼拜，为各自的母亲祝福。为母亲献上一张节日卡片或小礼
物，或请他们的母亲去饭馆就餐。
象征物：母亲健在佩戴红色或粉红色小花。假如母亲去世了，人们佩白色花朵。
5.万圣节（Halloween）也称“鬼节”
10月31日的万圣节是美国的一个大节日。在这节日里小孩们装扮成“鬼”去敲每家每户的门，嘴里喊着：“trick or treat”于是他们得到糖果、礼品等物，可谓满载而归。几乎所有的男女青年都去参加夜间举行的化妆游行或舞会。他们都把自己打扮成魔鬼、动物、古代人、外星人、机器人等奇形怪状的样子，表演各式各样的令人难以置信的动作，发出刺耳的声音、呈现出一幕幕离奇、荒唐的场景。
节日象征物为：内点蜡烛、镂刻各式鬼脸的“南瓜灯”。（jack-o'-lantern）
6.感恩节（Thanksgiving）
感恩节是北美及西欧各地的传统节日。节期为每年11月份第四个星期的星期四至星期天，为四天假期。
感恩节始于1621年，已有370多年历史。它源于一个动人的历史故事。1620年9月，有102名英国清教徒乘“五月花号”木船，经过65天的海上漂泊，于11月21日抵达美国东北部的普洛维登斯附近的普利茅斯，找到了一个印地安人村落。当地印地安人很同情这些移民，帮助他们狩猎、捕鱼、种庄稼，并取得了丰收。移民们感谢上帝的赐予和印地安人的帮助，于1621年秋天用火鸡，南瓜，玉米，红薯等劳动果实大摆宴席。当时还有近百名印地安人带着火鸡、鹿等礼品应邀前来赴宴，一连庆祝三天三夜，如此年复一年。
节日象征物及必备食品为“火鸡”（turkey）。
7.圣诞节（Christmas又写作Xmas）
是基督教纪念传说中的耶稣（Jesus Christ）诞生的节日。节期一般为12月24日到翌年1月6日。在12月25日各地都要举行盛大的庆祝活动。圣诞节已成为欧美各国最重要、最盛大的节日。无论你是否基督教徒都隆重庆祝这一节日。
圣诞除夕，夫妻之间、亲友间都先将互赠节日礼品（Christmas gift）。
节日的象征物为：圣诞树（小松树），圣诞花，圣诞蜡烛，圣诞卡、圣诞邮票、圣诞老人，鹿（rein deer），拐杖形糖（sugar cane）。外出的亲人都按期赶回与家人团聚。
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篇三：母亲节
母亲节
七（3）班 梁月莎
不知不觉我们即将迎来第二次段考。而在繁忙的学业中，也不乏轻松而温馨的时刻，那当然就是母亲节。
母亲节起源于西方，而自古以来奉行忠孝的中国，更是具有无比重大的意义。于是，在母亲节当天，我便与母亲开始了不断购物之旅 。一路过来，暗暗考虑时间的我眼看时间流逝心中已焦虑万分，对于接下来的行程也越来越不耐烦，当母亲兴致勃勃地拉着我又想扎进衣服堆里，我终于按倷不住心中的烦躁，略带急躁地向母亲表示自己去看书，与母亲分开行动的意愿。母亲一怔，脸上闪过一丝失望，随又若无其事地说道:”看看书也好，我看你平时待在家里也闷得很了，想你可以了解新鲜事，你就去吧，我自己一个人也能行。我心中过一丝迟疑，但面对母亲坦然的态度，也只得放下那满心的担忧与母亲分开了。平日里趣味无限的阅读区此时在我心里却显得一派沉闷与冷清。没几分钟我就转完整个阅读区。正感无聊的我却被一阵笑声引住了。在不远处的服装区，一位家长带着一幅小学模样的孩子，而孩子兴奋地向母亲说着什么，母子之间一片欢声笑语。就连远远看着的我也不自觉露出微笑，我想起自己还是小学时每每与母亲出行总有说不完的话题，于今时的情景不同。想到这里，每一种难以言喻的兴奋与隐隐的愧疚顿时冲去我心中的沉郁烦躁。是啊，在我孩提时代母亲总是愿意牺牲自己的时间伴我左右，对我总是耐心与比。而我如今我难道能为了自己的一点所谓私人时间而放弃陪伴母亲的机会吗？正像那对母子，因为全心陪伴彼此与珍惜对方的陪伴，所以其乐融融，小学的我与母亲不也正是如此吗？想到这里，我的心中无比晴朗。心中的压力也不翼而飞，转身离开，我明白了自己的追求。
那天，我放弃原有的安排，与母亲度过了一个愉快的母亲节，但更重要的是，我找回孩提的心情，懂得了只有时时珍惜父母的陪伴，才不会留下子欲养而亲不待的遗憾。