中西节日文化对比分析以七夕节与情人节为例

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摘要节日是民族文化的重要组成部分。对于一些相同的主题，各个民族会形成不同的传统节日。近年来随着中西方的文化交流日益频繁，西方节日的引入对中国的传统节日造成了不小的冲击。本文以七夕节和情人节为例，对比两个节日的起源与习俗，相似点与差异之处，并分析了造成这种现状的原因。这有助于人们理解中西方文化的差异，促进中西方节日文化的交流，引起人们对中国传统节日文化和节日精神的关注与重视，增强人们对传统节日文化的认同感。50340

毕业论文关键词: 情人节; 七夕节; 传统文化; 文化差异

Abstract The traditional festivals are an important part of the national cultures. As to some similar themes, every nation has formed different traditional festivals. In recent years, with the frequent cultural exchanges between the East and the West, the introduction of the western festivals has exerted an enormous influence on the Chinese traditional festivals. This thesis takes examples of China’s Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day, compares the origins and customs, the similarities and differences and analyzes the reasons for the present situations of the two festivals. It will be beneficial to understand the differences between Chinese and western festival cultures, accelerate the cultural exchanges between east and west, appeal to people to pay more attention to our traditional festival culture and festival spirit and strengthen the sense of identity.

Key words: Valentine’s Day; the Double Seventh Festival; traditional culture; cultural differences

Contents

摘要 i

Abstract ii

I. Introduction 1

II. The Origins and Customs of the Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day 2

2.1 The Origin and Customs of the Double Seventh Festival 2

2.2 The Origin and Customs of Valentine’s Day 4

III. The Similarities and Differences Between the Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day 6

3.1 The Similar Theme of the Two Festivals 6

3.2 The Differences Between the Two Festivals 6

3.2.1 The Different Cultural Origins and Religious Concepts of the Two Festivals 7

3.2.2 The Different Participants of the Two Festivals 7

3.2.3 The Different Attitudes towards the Authorities of the Two Festivals 8

3.2.4 The Different Values of the Two Festivals 9

IV. The Problems and the Reasons of the Two Festivals 10

V. Conclusion 12

Bibliography 14

Acknowledgements 15

The Comparative Analysis of Festival Culture between East and West—Taking the Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day as Examples

I. Introduction

Love has always been pursued by people and all kinds of festivals and events are held to commemorate and celebrate it across the whole world. When it comes to the festivals about love, what we immediately think of is the western Valentine's Day, which is very popular in China in recent years. In China, many people love and eagerly look forward to that day, especially the merchants and the young lovers. On this day, we will see that a mass of goods in the big department stores and supermarkets are on sales in many ways. As for the most representative and the best-selling presents of the western Valentine's Day, surely they are the roses and the chocolates. So on the street, it’s common that there are various colors of roses and various shapes of chocolates wrapped with decorative paper and bows waiting for sale. They are so expensive that the prices even are many times higher than the usual, but a nearly endless stream of young lovers still buy the roses and chocolate to express their love for each other on Valentine’s Day. In addition, different numbers of roses convey the different symbolic message, such as a single rose represents that you are the only one I want, three roses mean I love you, thirteen roses mean that the young lovers could stay with each other forever, etc.