圣诞节与春节

作者-小猫这个是去年12月的时候写的

作者-小猫圣诞节与春节的区别

It is soon Christmas and the Upcoming holiday after Christmas is Chinese New Year. Christmas is on the 25th of December and Chinese New Year starts at around the end of January to the beginning of February (this year it is on the 1st of February). Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar. I found that these two festivals have a lot in common but are also very different.

Christmas and Chinese New Year are the two biggest festivals for many Western and Chinese communities so they both create a big impact. The global logistics of Christmas and Chinese New Year are complex and vast. Factories including those in China produce large outputs for American and European markets which rise in purchases before Christmas. In China, over 100 million people travel to be with relatives for Chinese new year. Prices of travel tickets rise and bosses are compelled to give workers up to three times their regular salary because nobody wants to work at Chinese New Year. As these two holidays are very important many people celebrate. Those who celebrate Christmas add up to 2 billion people across 160 countries and Chinese New Year also has around 2 billion people celebrating it, mostly from greater China. The rest are made up of communities with Chinese heritage. Chinese New Year and Christmas have long histories. Christmas started in 336 AD in Rome and Chinese New Year enjoyed a history of about 3,500 years. These two festivals start from a mysterious legend based on religious beliefs.

However, the legends and religion behind Christmas and Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival) have nearly no common elements or relation. The Chinese New Year legend is that, during Chinese New Year, a monster named Nian (or year) used to go to the villages once a year to eat livestock and children, and that the only way to banish this monster was through red-coloured objects and loud noises. That’s why during that period of time houses, streets and clothes were mostly red and gold (gold stands for wealth) and firecrackers and fireworks are set off to be as loud as possible in China in order to scare away the Nian monster. Chinese New Year is also welcomed with lion and dragon dances. The dances are loud with the aim to push away evil spirits and bring prosperity and luck for the year ahead. The idea of new beginnings is really important during the Spring Festival. The traditional present for Chinese New Year is a red envelope with golden blessing words filled with money known as hongbao. Additionally, the food is very different from the food eaten on Christmas.

Christmas starts from a legend rather much more friendly than the Nian story. It is from tales of the historical Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and the mythical embodiment of Christmas (Father Christmas) merging into one benevolent present-giver. The traditional activity is to attend mass or some form of carol service to remember Christ's birth. The colour theme on Christmas is mostly red, green, gold and white. The sound of the Christmas atmosphere is generally calmer and brings peace, with church bells and Christmas carols taking a quiet approach to festivities. The presents in the west were more likely toys for children (given to them by Santa Claus) and food or drink between adults or even money between close relatives.

One further similarity between Chinese and Western cultures is the importance of being with family during celebrations. Traveling home is an important part of this.

In conclusion, Christmas and Chinese New year have many similarities and elements of uniqueness. Which one to celebrate is mostly based on cultural backgrounds but it is also good to understand different cultures and share happiness together.

作者-小猫虽然我的文笔可能比较稚嫩但阅读可以提升英语的水平

作者-小猫中文版在我的另一本书无言的日记那里的第21个文章