英美参考文化正式论文.docVIP

Course：American Culture Instructor：Prof. Yang Lin Name：冯笑 Student Number：082526 Class：131807 Date：April 21, 2011 the Similarities and Differences between Chinese Spring Festival and American Christmas What is culture？There are many definitions. Some would consider it as the art, literature, history, religion and traditions. Others might focus on the customs and specific behavior of a people. Therefore, I have chosen one of the aspects in a cultural sense, that is, similarities and differences between Chinese Spring Festival and American Christmas. It is generally believed that both of them are the most important holidays for people in each of these two countries. Although these two holidays have some in common, they do differ in some aspects. Chinese New Year is the most solemn and characteristic festival among the Chinese people. Generally it refers to New Year’s Eve and the first day at the first month of lunar year. But among people, traditional Spring Festival is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the twenty-three day of the twelfth lunar month, which culminated in New Year’s Eve and the first day of the lunar year. During the Spring Festival, the Han ethnic groups in China and many other national minorities have held various activities to celebrate. These activities are mainly characterized by different varieties. Christmas, December 25th, each year, is a traditional festival of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. On Christmas day, most of the Catholic Church will be held the Midnight Mass on December 25th; and another major branch Christianity-Orthodox will celebrate Christmas on January 7th each year. Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and it has been speculated that began in the first century AD. For a long time the date of Christmas has not been defined because the date is controversial. By comparison, both of these two festivals reflect the theme about having good fortunes in the coming year, rather than ill-fortu