Differences between Christmas and Spring Festival

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In China, you can see that more and more families put ornate Christmas trees on their doorways around Christmas; Walking on the street, shops, regardless of their size, have pasted pictures of Santa Claus on their shop windows, hung colored lights, and sprayed "Merry Christmas!" with various colors to attract customers and promote sales, which has become a special cultural atmosphere of the festival and an indispensable way of cultural promotion.

 

In the West, foreigners also go to the local Chinatown to watch Chinese celebrate the Spring Festival on the day of the Spring Festival, and also participate in interaction. It can be seen that these two festivals have become an important link between China and the West. As the Spring Festival is approaching, let's take a look at the similarities between Christmas in the West and the Spring Festival in China.

 

1. Similarities between Christmas and Spring Festival

 

First of all, whether in the West or in China, Christmas and the Spring Festival are the most important festivals of the year. They represent family reunion. In China, family members will get together to make dumplings and have a reunion dinner during the Spring Festival. The same is true in the West. The whole family sits under the Christmas tree to have a Christmas meal, such as turkey and roast goose.

 

Secondly, there are similarities in the way of celebration. For example, the Chinese people want to play up the festival atmosphere by pasting window flowers, couplets, hanging lanterns, etc; Westerners also decorate Christmas trees, hang colored lights and decorate windows to celebrate their biggest holiday of the year.

 

In addition, gift giving is also an important part of the two festivals for Chinese and Western people. Chinese people visit their relatives and friends and bring holiday gifts, as do Westerners. They also send cards or other favorite gifts to their families or friends.

 

2. Cultural differences between Christmas and Spring Festival

 

2.1 Differences in origin and customs

 

(1) Differences in origin:

 

December 25 is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus. According to the Bible, the holy book of Christians, God decided to let his only son Jesus Christ incarnate into the world. The Holy Spirit gave birth to Mary and took the human body, so that people can better understand God, learn to love God and love each other better. "Christmas" means "celebrating Christ", celebrating the moment when a young Jewish woman Maria gave birth to Jesus.

 

In China, the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first month, is the Spring Festival, commonly known as the "New Year". According to historical records, the Spring Festival was called "Zai" in the Tang Yu Dynasty, "Sui" in the Xia Dynasty, "Si" in the Shang Dynasty, and "Nian" in the Zhou Dynasty. The original meaning of "Nian" refers to the growth cycle of grains. Millet is hot once a year, so the Spring Festival is held once a year, with the implication of Qingfeng. It is also said that the Spring Festival originated from the "wax festival" at the end of the primitive society. At that time, when the wax came to an end, the ancestors killed pigs and sheep, sacrificed gods, ghosts and ancestors, and prayed for good weather in the new year to avoid disasters. Overseas Study Network

 

(2) Differences in customs:

 

Westerners celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus, Christmas tree, and people also sing Christmas songs: "Christmas Eve", "Listen, the angels report good news", "Jingle bells"; People give Christmas cards to each other, eat turkey or roast goose, etc. In China, every family will paste couplets and characters of blessing, set off fireworks and firecrackers, eat dumplings, watch the New Year, pay lucky money, and perform outdoor activities such as dancing yangko and walking on stilts.

 

2.2 Differences between the two in the context of religious belief

 

Christianity is one of the three major religions in the world. "It is a monotheistic religion, which believes that God is the absolute and only God that rules all things in the universe". In the West, religion runs through all aspects of people's lives. Christianity has a profound impact on people's world outlook, outlook on life, values, ways of thinking, living habits, etc. "The concept of God is not only a great force to maintain the basic values of the West, but also a strong link between modern culture and traditional culture." Christmas is the day Christians commemorate the birth of their savior Jesus.

 

The religious culture in China is characterized by diversity. Believers are also worshippers of different religions, including Buddhism, Bodhisattva, Arhat, etc., Taoism's Three Emperors, Four Emperors, Eight Immortals, etc., and Confucianism's Three Emperors, Five Emperors, Yao, Shun, Yu, etc. Although the Spring Festival in China also has some marks of religious beliefs, such as placing altars or statues at home, offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors, or going to temples to offer sacrifices to gods, etc., these are based on a variety of faiths and have complex characteristics. These religious beiefs are not as universal as those in the West when people go to church to pray at Christmas. At the same time, the main purpose of people worshipping gods is to pray for blessings and keep peace.

 

2.3 Differences between the two in national thinking mode

 

Chinese people are very different from Westerners in their thinking mode. The Chinese philosophy system stresses the "unity of nature and man", that is, nature and man are a whole; There is also the theory of the unity of mind and matter, that is, psychological things and material things are a whole and cannot be completely separated. "The idea of the so-called 'unity of man and nature' is the relationship between man and the nature of heaven, namely, the unity, coordination and organic connection between man and nature.". This idea enables Chinese people to express their worship and gratitude for nature by worshiping God or gods, so Chinese festivals are related to solar terms. The Spring Festival is derived from the solar term of the vernal equinox, which is intended to pray for a favorable weather and disaster free new year.

 

The westerners, on the other hand, think of dualism or the dichotomy of heaven and man. They believe that man and nature are opposed, and they must choose one from the other. "Either man conquers nature, or man becomes a slave of nature.". Westerners want to separate the mind from things, and choose one from the other. Western festivals have little to do with nature. On the contrary, western cultures all show the desire to control and conquer nature.

 

Westerners believe in the only God, God is the creator, the savior, not nature. Therefore, Western festivals are related to God. Christmas is the day to commemorate the birth of Jesus, and also the day to thank God for his gifts. Santa Claus is the messenger of God, who sprinkles grace everywhere he goes. As the Bible says, "All the animals on the earth and the birds in the air will be terrified and afraid of you; even all the insects on the earth and all the fish in the sea will be handed over to you; all living animals can be your food, and I will give you all these things like vegetables."