In the west, the most important traditional festival is Christmas. Generally speaking, during Christmas, people will choose to go to church, sing hymns and eat communion. The Christmas tree is a unique decoration during the festival. Children will also get Christmas presents from Santa Claus. My Beijing Language and Culture University has international students from different countries in the world. From them, I learned that we actually had many misunderstandings about the West in the past. People think that traditional festivals in China attach the most importance to family reunion, as if the West attaches more importance to individual freedom. Actually, it is not. In some western countries, Christmas is also the best opportunity for family reunion. Some international students would rather take time off than go back to China to reunite with their families. In the west, people celebrate Christmas without a fixed and unified form. For example, the Eucharist originated in the New Testament? The "Last Supper" in the Gospels, that is, Jesus picked up bread and wine at the last supper before his arrest, and said, "This is my body and blood, which was abandoned and flowed out in order to be free from sin." Based on this, the Christian church evolved it into Eucharist. But the specific practice of eating Eucharist will be very different. In Catholicism, the Eucharist is represented by unleavened cakes, and believers are not allowed to drink alcohol. Orthodox allows believers to drink alcohol and use fermented cakes; Protestantism uses ordinary bread and wine. The Roman Church stipulates that the Gregorian calendar is 65438+February 25th as the Christmas Day of Jesus, while the Orthodox Church and other eastern sects celebrate Christmas Day on 65438+1October 6th or 7th at different times.
Different sects will have different rituals, and different regions, different national personalities and different climatic conditions will form different holiday habits. Relatively speaking, Germans will be quiet at Christmas, while Britain will eat and drink, hold masquerade parties, sing and dance during festivals. In Australia, the image of Santa Claus never wears a coat or a fur hat, but in most cases, he wears shorts, a vest and bare arms, which is due to the climate. It can be seen that there is no difference within western culture. On the contrary, during festivals, some ceremonies are unique to eastern and western cultures. Like family reunion. British people also have the habit of celebrating the New Year. So we should talk about the differences between Chinese and western cultures, not absolute ones.
China is an agricultural country with a long history, and its traditional festivals are mainly related to agricultural solar terms, such as: January 1st, for the sake of spring, everything revives. On February 2 nd, the dragon looked up, which was the sowing festival. People pay attention to eating fried beans. On March 3rd, ancestor worship, (Tomb-Sweeping Day). On April 4th, the phoenix wags its tail, which means Young Crop Festival, which means that the five grains wag its tail, and the people pay attention to eating leeks and zygotes. The fifth day of May is the Dragon Boat Festival. Now it's to commemorate Qu Yuan, but it's actually to commemorate the bumper harvest of grain. People pay attention to wrapping rice with zongzi leaves to thank the river god. Visit the temple fair on June 6, and finish farming. On July 7th, Queqiaoxian, the day when there is no farm work, that is, the day when you find someone. August 15, when the moon is full, is the wedding day to find a good partner. On September 9th, to climb mountains, people pay attention to climbing mountains, indicating that it will be better next year (there is another saying in China that it is to ward off evil spirits). On October 1 ST, winter clothes were sent, and the people paid attention to adding soil to the grave. Eating rice crust on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month shows that it is late these years and it is still early spring. To save, the people pay attention to drinking miscellaneous grains.
The most solemn festival in China's traditional customs. This festival is the first in a year. The ancients also called Yuanri, New Year's Day, Jacky, Spring Festival and Xinzheng. Now they are called after the Spring Festival and adopt the Gregorian calendar era. In ancient times, "Spring Festival" and "Spring" were synonymous. On the one hand, the custom of the Spring Festival is to celebrate the past year, on the other hand, it is to wish a happy New Year, a bumper harvest of crops and prosperity of people and animals, which are mostly related to farming. Welcome and dance the dragon to please the dragon god, and the weather is good; Lion dance originated from a legend, that is, the town is afraid of monsters that destroy crops and harm people and animals. With the development of society, activities such as worshipping the gods and worshipping the sky are gradually eliminated, and customs such as burning firecrackers, posting Spring Festival couplets, hanging New Year pictures, playing dragon lanterns, dancing lions and celebrating the New Year are still widely popular.
Traditional folk festivals in China. Also known as the first half of the first month, Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. The custom of Lantern Festival includes watching lanterns, wrapping jiaozi, and playing drums in the New Year to welcome Ce Shen and solve riddles on the lanterns. The custom of eating Yuanxiao began in the Song Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of jiaozi, which is a solid or stuffed jiaozi made of glutinous rice flour. You can eat soup, stir-fry it or steam it.
Traditional folk festivals in China. Fireworks are strictly prohibited during festivals, and only cold food can be eaten. Winter to the future 105 or 106 days, one or two days before Qingming. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, was exiled, and the minister Jiezitui cut off his shares. After Zhong Er proclaimed himself emperor, he made great contributions, but he didn't enjoy meson push. Zitui lives in seclusion in the mountains. Zhong Er was ashamed, so he let Yamakaji go and forced him to come out to be rewarded. The child was burned to death because he couldn't get out of the Woods. Therefore, Zhong Er ordered not to make a fire to cook on this day every year to commemorate Zitui and express his condemnation of his mistakes. Because cold food is close to Qingming time, later generations regard the custom of cold food as one of Qingming customs.
Traditional folk festivals in China. According to the lunar calendar, it is the first half of March, and according to the solar calendar, it is April 5 or 6 every year. At this time, the weather is getting warmer and sunny. "Everything is so clean and bright", hence Tomb-Sweeping Day's name. Its customs include sweeping graves, hiking, swinging, flying kites and wearing flowers. Scholars of all ages wrote poems on the theme of Qingming.
Traditional folk festivals in China. Also known as Duanyang, Chongwu and Chongwu. Dragon Boat Festival was originally held in the afternoon of the first month. Because "May" and "noon" are homophonic, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month becomes the Dragon Boat Festival. It is generally believed that this festival is related to the commemoration of Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was loyal and drowned himself, so people ate zongzi and held dragon boat races to mourn him. The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival include drinking realgar wine, hanging sachets, eating zongzi, arranging calamus flowers, beating herbs and expelling the "five poisons".
Traditional folk festivals in China. Also known as Girls' Day or Tanabata. According to legend, after the weaver girl on the east bank of Tianhe married the cowherd in Hexi, the brocade was woven a little slowly, and the emperor was furious, so he drove the weaver girl back and only allowed them to meet on the bridge made of magpies and birds on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month every year. Or: the weaver girl in the sky married the cowherd on the ground, and the queen mother took the weaver girl back to the sky and only allowed them to meet at the annual magpie bridge. On the evening of the seventh day of July every year, when the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd reunite, women will put incense tables and thread needles to ask the Weaver Girl for advice on weaving and embroidery skills. Listening to the conversation between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl under the grape trellis is also an interesting thing on July 7.
Traditional folk festivals in China. Also known as the reunion festival. August of the lunar calendar is in autumn, and August 15th is in August, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. Autumn is crisp and the bright moon is in the sky, so there is a custom of enjoying and offering sacrifices to the moon. The reunion association brought by the full moon makes the Mid-Autumn Festival more deeply rooted in people's hearts. The Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon is more romantic after being associated with Mid-Autumn Festival in Tang Dynasty. Many poets in the past dynasties wrote poems on the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival. The main customs of Mid-Autumn Festival are appreciating the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon, watching the tide and eating moon cakes.
Traditional folk festivals in China. The Book of Changes defines "nine" as yang number, and two or nine is important, so the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is "Chongyang". In the Double Ninth Festival, the air is crisp in autumn, the wind is clear and the moon is clean, so there are customs such as climbing high and looking far, appreciating chrysanthemums and making poems, drinking chrysanthemum wine and inserting dogwood. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a poem "Cornus officinalis is all over the ground, but one person is missing".
Traditional folk festivals in China. This is an ancient festival, offering sacrifices to ancestors, gods and harvest at the end of the year. The twelfth lunar month is usually held in the last month of each year, and it was fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. There are customs such as eating red bean porridge and offering sacrifices to ancestors. Buddhist Laba porridge has also penetrated into Laba customs.
Traditional folk festivals in China. On the evening of Lunar New Year1February 30th, every household is cleaning the house, putting on rich dishes and having a "New Year's Eve" with the whole family. This night, everyone stays up all night, or drinks and chats, or plays chess by guessing. This is the so-called "guarding the old age". At zero o'clock, people rushed out and gathered a fire in front of the court (called "Tingliao" in ancient times, which means prosperity). At the time of the "three yuan" of "year yuan, month yuan and time yuan", three "celestial cannons" were released in order to develop and prosper first. At this time, firecrackers and cheers were connected together, and there was a scene of "removing the old year from firecrackers".
China's traditional festivals were basically formed and handed down during the feudal society, and were inevitably branded with feudalism: hierarchical, closed and family-style, and all festivals were centered on family and family internal activities. On holidays, young people must worship the elderly, and the whole family will have a reunion dinner, and the whole family will celebrate together. Even during the Spring Festival, it is basically between relatives. It is inconceivable that a group of strangers get together. Even the outdoor yangko, which many people take part in, is only a performance activity, not a national carnival. In addition, another notable feature of China Festival is that it embodies the customs of China's food culture. Each festival has different special food requirements to distinguish it from other festivals. For example, eat jiaozi, Yuanxiao, Zongzi, moon cakes and so on. Festivals in China embody the virtues and fashions of China people. Respecting the old and loving the young and loving each other is a fine tradition of our nation and should be carried forward. Therefore, China people have always adhered to the good customs and ethos of these China festivals. Even those who like foreign festivals, no one wants to abandon China festivals.
There are three main traditional festivals of the Chinese nation: production, life and sacrifice; Apart from some individual festivals, sacrifice is also one of the most important activities in most traditional festivals of production and life. In addition, these three kinds of festivals are all based on the festival with China characteristics.
In China, the Spring Festival is an important festival in spring, and the time has gradually changed from the day of beginning of spring in the lunar calendar before the Han and Wei Dynasties to the first day of the first lunar month. Holiday foods range from early spring dishes, spring cakes and Tu Su wine to late rice, rice cakes and jiaozi. The ancients believed that the day of beginning of spring was the beginning of spring and the beginning of a year, so there was a custom of persuading people to farm on this day. "Once"? "Etiquette Chronicle" says: "On the day of beginning of spring, the night leaked less than five minutes, and all the officials in the capital were in Tsing Yi, and all the officials in counties and countries were eating the history of war, and all of them made their green contributions, and set up green flags to show the people of Niu Geng outside the door. "Farming requires a strong body, so there is corresponding food in the diet. Five spicy foods, namely spring vegetables and Tu Su wine, first appeared, with the purpose of strengthening the body and facilitating agriculture. With the passage of time, the significance of persuading people to farm in the Spring Festival has gradually faded, while the significance of keeping fit has been strengthened, further hoping that the new year will be happy, auspicious and all the best, so new holiday foods have appeared, such as the rice meal symbolizing happiness and reunion, the rice cake symbolizing developed career, and jiaozi symbolizing abundant financial resources and all the best. All these Spring Festival foods are entrusted with China people's prayers and yearning for a happy life.
Western festivals are different. They are more about interaction, participation, carnival, and the catharsis of warm emotions. They are self-centered and advocate individuality, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day. This is just the opposite of the closed and familial nature of China Festival. These reflect the needs of social development and the inevitability of social progress, the collectivity of human society and the participation of the whole people, and adapt to the desire of people in modern society to communicate with each other, participate in groups and vent their emotions together. It broke the feudal closed form, and there was no hierarchical bondage between superiors and subordinates, old people and young people, which reflected the characteristics of equality and free self-expression of everyone. In terms of eating, there are no strict requirements, and what festivals are celebrated is not the difference between eating.
There are three kinds of traditional festivals in western countries and nations: production, life and religion. However, due to the great historical changes in social and economic forms, the first two kinds of traditional festivals either faded out or gradually disappeared, giving way to religious festivals. In addition, due to the diversity of western culture, the existing traditional festivals of agriculture and animal husbandry are mostly regional rather than universal, and are limited to rural towns in various regions or production places of certain agricultural and animal husbandry products. Respecting the land and praying for a bumper harvest are the common characteristics and traditional customs of all ethnic groups engaged in agricultural production in ancient times, especially in the natural economic and social era when agricultural productivity is underdeveloped. As a year-round festival, it should be a festival of universal concern to human society, but in the west, the importance and influence of this festival has given way to Christian Christmas. Although most western countries are still celebrating the New Year, it is not a worldwide festival in a strict sense or even in a general sense, but an annual festival with local and national characteristics celebrated all over the world at the same time. Based on the socio-economic forms and historical and cultural characteristics of different countries, nationalities and regions, festivals show different production, life or religious and cultural characteristics. There is also the "Thanksgiving Day" popular in northern China, which has some similar connotations to the traditional festivals in the United States. And these festivals with specific regional and historical and cultural connotations will undoubtedly not have cross-cultural and cross-regional universality, nor can they be transplanted in different places. Because the European continent is influenced by Christian civilization, almost all the most influential traditional festivals in the west are related to Christianity, and with the popularization of Christianity among civilizations and the spread of European immigrants to all continents in the world, they have become world-wide festivals.
Christmas has gradually evolved into a major national holiday in western countries, which focuses on family reunion and festivals as lively as the Spring Festival in China. There are grand celebrations on Christmas Day, especially on the eve of Christmas Day on February 24th, 65438. Christians go to church to have mass, sing Christmas songs and recite hymns to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the arrival of Christmas Day. Children expect Santa Claus to send gifts such as candy and toys, and they will prepare some supper for Santa Claus. In addition to celebrations, the Christmas party is an essential family reunion for Christmas, but the time is not necessarily the same as holiday food. For example, Italians and French people hold a family dinner on Christmas Eve, which is similar to "New Year's Eve" in China. Italians eat "New Year's Eve" first. It is worth noting that at Christmas parties in most countries, when the whole family sits around the dining table, they must put an extra chair and make room for a seat, because this is for Jesus, the "messenger of the Lord". After the banquet, people sang and danced around the Christmas tree symbolizing good luck, happiness and eternal life.
The most important cultural characteristics of traditional festivals in China are strong secularity and pan-divinity, which are actually non-religious. This is because China's early social structure was based on the customary force of combining nature worship with humanistic spirit, and it was a kind of "humanism" different from ancient western deism and modern humanism. Its basic philosophical concept and ideal hope value advocate the coordination and balance between God and man, that is, the so-called "harmony between man and nature". The modern festival culture in China is becoming more and more secularized, even vulgarized, instead of emotional sustenance and spiritual sublimation. In the west, people pay more attention to emotional friendship in social communication, and the gifts exchanged pay more attention to their emotional value than material value, which is really like China's saying that "a friendship between gentlemen is as light as water" and "courtesy is lighter than benevolence".
To say the similarities between Chinese and western festivals, we must first say the similarities between Chinese and western cultures:
(A) all advocate the spirit of initiative.
One of the important contents of western Christian Calvinism is enterprising spirit, which requires people to be self-controlled, introspective, loyal and diligent. This is consistent with Confucianism. Max. Weber's statement that Confucian ethics and Protestant ethics are incompatible is inaccurate. Confucius' famous saying, "Never tire of learning, never tire of teaching", "Forget food when you are angry, forget your worries when you are happy, and never know how old you are", just shows the spirit of orientals who are eager for strength and strive hard. Confucius also opposed inaction. He said: "Eating all day long is heartless and uncomfortable." . Confucius' enterprising spirit and conscientious attitude have many similarities with the enterprising spirit of western Protestant ethics.
Advocate humanitarianism.
Whether it is the anti-theocracy in the European Renaissance, the humanistic trend of thought that requires respect for human beings, or the political slogans such as "freedom", "equality" and "fraternity" in the French bourgeois revolution in the18th century, they are all anti-feudal humanitarian thoughts, which have many similarities with Confucius' thoughts of "benevolence" and "love" before 2000. Confucius' "benevolence" means "love" and "love and love", which is a high generalization of Confucian humanitarian thought. Confucius said: "A benevolent man wants to be a man, but he wants to be a man", which means that everyone should treat himself as an adult, others as an adult and himself as a man. He should learn to love the broad masses, practice benevolence, and make everyone a veritable person in society. There is no essential difference between these words of wisdom and western humanitarianism. Although the background and objects of providing humanitarianism are different due to different times, in the Warring States period more than 2,000 years ago, Confucian humanitarianism was only an academic thought at that time and had not been widely accepted by the society. Humanism in the Renaissance became a fighting weapon for the emerging bourgeoisie against the old feudal forces. But "both of them are progressive thoughts in the period of social and historical changes when social forms have undergone fundamental changes."
This shows that the same festivals in China and the West are linked by * * *:
* * * The same festivals, such as 5/ 1 Labor Day; March 8 Women's Day; 6/ 1 Children's Day is a kind of respect for human rights. And11New Year's Day is the expectation and best wishes for the new year.