浅析中美重要传统节日的文化差异

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Abstract The traditional festivals deposit a country’s long history and culture. The study of festival culture which is considered as a significant manifestation of a nation’s culture is an essential part of the study of a country’s culture. Since festival culture in both China and America has the characteristics of persity and pluralism, a comparative study of them is meaningful. This paper compares the differences in festival origins, festival customs and food habits from a certain important traditional festivals with similar cultural connotation in China and America, analyzes the underlying cultural differences reflected, and comes up with a series of strategies to promote some festivals with little public participation. With the increasing importance of festival culture, a better understanding of the traditional festival cultures in China and America is quite beneficial to our cultural learning and communication between the two countries.54735

Keywords: festival culture; important festivals; cultural differences; strategies

摘要传统节日积淀了各个国家悠久的历史和文化。中美两国的节日文化作为民族文化的重要表现形式都有着多样性，多元化的特点，因此，一个关于中美节日文化的对比研究是有重要意义的。本文从节日起源，节日习俗以及饮食差异比较了在中美有着相似文化内涵的传统节日，分析了其中折射出的文化差异，并且提出了一系列措施来弘扬一些群众参与度低的节日。伴随着节日文化的日益增长的重要性，对中美传统节日文化的深入了解有利于对两国文化的学习和交流。

毕业论文关键词：节日文化；重要传统节日；文化差异；措施

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Cultural Differences Reflected by Comparison Between Important Chinese and American Traditional Festivals 3

3.1 A Brief Introduction of Some Important Traditional Festivals in China and America 3

3.2 Cultural Differences in Origins of the Festivals 5

3.3 Cultural Differences in Festival Customs 7

3.4 Cultural Differences in Food Habits 8

4. Strategies to Promote Traditional Festivals 10

4.1 Establishing Some Principles 10

4.2 Following the Successful Practice of Festivals 11

4.3 Highlighting National Features 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

With the fast-speed development in science and technology, globalization is taking a fast pace in contemporary society, people from different nations are likely to communicate more frequently in the fields such as politics, economy, technology and culture. In a context of different cultures, misunderstandings and conflicts are perhaps to arise in the process of communication when people have little awareness of the existence of perse cultural values and beliefs. So, in order to promote the cross-cultural communication, it is significant for us to have a good awareness and understanding of cultural differences. However, festivals are valuable cultural heritage of various countries, which is also the reason why traditional festivals in China and some western countries have little in common. In light of the fact that festivals in China and America serve as an intriguing window into their cultural differences, a comparative study of them is meaningful. The cultural contrasts are reflected by their different origins, various ways for people to celebrate the festivals and perse food habits. This paper aims to look into the cultural differences in traditional festivals both in China and America based on the analysis of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotation. The author would like to pide her paper into two parts. In the first part, the author would give a brief introduction to the main three important traditional festivals in China which are Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Qixi Festival, and in America which are Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Valentine’s Day. And an analysis on the cultural differences of these six festivals from the perspective of origins, customs and food habits will be carried out. Moreover, three specific strategies, to promote some traditional festivals with little reputation across the world would be provided in the second part.