从起源角度小议中西传统节日的差异

从起源角度小议中西传统节日的差异

张旭

攀枝花学院

四川省攀枝花市617000

Key Words: traditional festivals; origin;

Introduction

Festivals refer to special days that are concentrated reflections of a rich life, summary and extension of politics, economics, cultures, and religions in different areas, nations and countries. However, China has obviously been impacted by foreign cultures since the reform and open-up. The commercialization of western festivals such as Christmas and the Valentine's Day is becoming more and more popular in China, which mean great challenges.

Different Culture Background between China and the West

China is an ancient agricultural country with a long history of more than 5000 years. Under the condition of underdeveloped technology and low productivity at that time, a complete set of experience was summed up to deal with agriculture. In the process of spring planting, summer growing, autumn harvest and winter storage, we realized the rules of natural timing changes, and summed up the four seasons and 24 solar terms. People not only regard it as the basis of engaging in agricultural activities, but also regard some days corresponding to solar terms as festivals. Obviously, the origin of Chinese traditional festivals cannot be separated from the influence of farming civilization.

The formation of western traditional festivals is closely related to commodity, farming and religious culture. In western countries, agriculture has not been the main, so people are less sensitive to the laws of nature. With the impact of the industrial revolution, the West has embarked on a different path from China. Festivals of agricultural nature gradually fade out of their daily life.

Different Religious Styles

Most national festivals in China, especially the traditional festivals of the Han nationality, have nothing to do with religion. In this situation, the sacrificial ceremony mainly shows human beings' respect and fear for the supernatural forces that dominate their own destiny. With the gradual development of these activities, combined with the 24 solar terms, there has been an embryonic form of festivals. Nowadays, Chinese scholars generally believe that Chinese traditional festival folklore is very secular and without religion, and the evolution and further development are closely related to the nature worship.

Western traditional festivals reveal a strong Christian culture. Since the rise of Christianity in Europe, it has gradually become the mainstream and has an unimaginable dominant position in the western countries. it has gradually become a religion with the largest number of believers, the widest global distribution and the most profound influence on the world. Almost all the festivals were affected by it. Many Christian religious festivals have gradually become national festivals. We can clearly see rich religious elements in almost all western festivals.

Conclusions

Through the analysis, we can see that due to the differences in cultural background and historical development, Chinese and western traditional festivals have formed two distinct festival cultures. The advantages which can be learned for traditional culture have been found. Inheriting the traditional culture is to maintain the national character of the culture. Absorbing foreign cultures with an open mind is to keep up with the pace of globalization. China is a multi-ethnic country. We should understand the differences between Chinese and western festivals, learning from the essence of western culture, absorbing the precious spiritual wealth of other countries, improving and innovating Chinese festival culture, so that the excellent Chinese festival culture can be inherited and prospered with festivals as the carrier.

Bibliography

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从起源角度小议中西传统节日的差异

张旭

攀枝花学院

四川省攀枝花市617000