中国七夕节与西方情人节的对比

The Comparability of Valentine?s Day of the Western Culture and Double-Seventh Day of the Chinese Traditional Festival

中国七夕节与西方情人节的对比

Abstract

Culture is a kind of social behavior. It is correlated with people's daily life, and customs and habits. Love is a very important part of culture. Each nation's special culture gives love some special cultural connotation. This paper intends to make an analysis of the different origins of the Double seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day, the different celebrations and cultural backgrounds of the two festivals, as well as different people’s psychological identities of the two festivals. Then since we have the unique Double Seventh Festival, we should protect the culture of the Festival. And we should give foreign festivals more tolerance and pay more respect for our national festivals.

I believe the two festivals can enjoy "peaceful co-existence."

Key Words:Double Seventh Festival; Valentine’s D ay; farming civilization; Christianity; different, peaceful co-existence.

摘要

文化是一种社会行为，文化与人们的日常生活，习俗和习惯息息相关。爱的文化在整个文化中起着很重要的部分。每个民族的特别文化也给每个民族的爱的文化带来一些特别之处。本文试图对七夕节和情人节起源的不同，两个节日的庆祝方法不同，两个节日的文化底蕴不同及人们对这两个节日的不同心理认同进行分析。我们的七夕节是独一无二的，我们应该保护七夕文化。我们应该给国外节日多一些宽容，也给我国传统节日多一些尊敬.我相信七夕节和情人节这两节日可以“和平共存”的。

关键词：七夕节，情人节，农耕文化，基督教，不同，和平共存

Contents

Acknowledgements (ⅰ)

Abstract (ⅱ)

摘要 (ⅲ)

Chapter One: Introduction (1)

Chapter Two: The different origin of the Double seventh Festival and the Valentine?s Day (2)

2.1 The different origin of the Double seventh Festival (2)

2.2 The different origin of the Valentine?s Day (3)

Chapter Three: The different celebrations of two festivals (5)

3.1 The celebration of the Double seventh Festival (5)

3.2 The celebration of the Valentine?s Day (5)

Chapter Four: The different cultural background of two festivals (8)

Chapter Five: The different people?s psychological identities of the two festivals (10)

Chapter Six：Conclusion (11)

References (13)

Chapter One Introduction

The festival is an essential part of cultural customs, which is also an important part to reflect the traditional ethnic culture. On the other hand, the festival, as a mirror of culture, is strongly influenced by culture. Culture is a kind of social behavior. It is correlated with people's daily life, and customs and habits. Each nation's special culture gives love some special cultural meaning. Different countries have different folk festivals owing to different natural conditions and humane factors. For most western countries, traditional festivals originate from religion, while our traditional festivals come from a farming civilization. The different origins lead to different celebrations. Over the many years in past, different regions have celebrated their own festivals. In modern times, with development of globalization, many ethnic festivals are celebrated by all over the world. For example, the Western Valentine's Day is widely celebrated by our young people. And China's Double Seventh Festival is called "Oriental Valentine's Day". But we should know what the differences are between the two festivals. What can we learn from the two festivals? In this paper, we will discuss the Double Seventh Festival and the Valentine's Day, which reflect the differences between Chinese and Western cultures about love of various levels. Many young people ignore the glorious national heritage of thousands of years. What should we and the government do for the two festivals?

Chapter Two The Different Origins of the Two Festivals

2.1 The Origin of the Double Seventh Festival

The legend about a cowhand and a weaver maid originated from the astronomical picture composed of Altair and Vega. Earlier, the deification of Altair and Vega could be found in the Book of Songs. There are no love stories and legends about them until the Han Dynasty when their love story emerged.

“Long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted fellow named Niu Lang (Cowhand). His parents died when he was a child. Later he was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law. So he lived by himself. One day, a fairy from Heaven Zhi Nu (Weaver maid) fell in love with him and came down secretly to earth and married him. The cowhand farmed in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home. They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, the God of Heaven soon found out the fact and ordered the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens to bring the Weaver Maid back. With the help of the celestial cattle, the Cowhand flew to heaven with his son and daughter. At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke. One billowy river appeared in front of the Cowhand. The Cowhand and Weaver Maid were separated on the two banks forever and could only feel their tears. Their loyalty to love touched magpies, so tens of thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for the Cowhand and Weaver Maid to meet each other. The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. Hence their meeting date has been call "Qi Xi"(Double Seventh)

（https://www.360docs.net/doc/b218178881.html,/question/31988243.html?fr=qrl&cid=974&index=3）With the spread and influence of the story about Cowhand and Weaver maid, many famous ancient poets wrote the Double Seventh Festival in their works to express the theme of love, such as "Ya n Ge Xing" written by Cao Pi, “Qi Xi " written by Du Mu, and Cui Hao?s " Qi Xi " and so on.

The love story of the Cowhand and the Weaver maid is entirely from the folk and the real life of working people, reflecting the living conditions of ordinary workers. Many people always think that the China has no romantic love, but the Cowhand and Weaver Maid?s story prove s that Chinese people do not lack of romantic pursuit. 2.2 The Origin of the Valentine’s Day

There are many opinions about the origin of the Valentine?s Day. The Valentine?s Day, is the very typical festival, which has spread to all over the world. There are three forms of its origin:

Origin 1: The priest St.Valentine was firmed in his Christian faith and he didn?t worship the Roman emperor, so he was imprisoned by the Roman emperor and finally sentenced to death. The Daughter of his prison guard was attracted by his behavior. In the process of waiting for execution, he fell in love with the girl. But he still refused to give up faith because of love. On February 14, AD .270, before execution, he wrote a passionate letter to his love. The inscription is “from your Valentine”. People set this day as “Valentine's Day”.

Origin II: In the third century AD, Rome and other countries had wars in succession. It needed a large number of soldiers to the front, but people hated war very much, and no one wanted to fight. The emperor Claudius, who was a famous tyrant, thought it was because the family yoking with men, so he ordered that people couldn?t marry. Priests were not allowed to uphold wedding ceremonies. A priest named Valentine, regardless of the ban, upheld the wedding ceremonies for the young. Before long, Claudius was very angry on hearing about the news. He arrested St.Valentine and tormented him to death. People marked the day he passed away as “Valentine's Day”.

Origin III: According to the legend, in ancient times, natural environment was very bad, so every year the Romans had to sacrifice to the God in February to pray for health and prosperity. Unmarried men and women could participate in the activities on that day, and they could dance together. Girls? names were written on a small slip of paper, so that the boys could select. The girl who was selected by a boy

would become his wife. After many years, this led to many marriages. This day happened to be February 14. People thought this was the achievement of the day. So people set this day as “Valentine's Day”

From the origins of the two festivals, we can see obviously that the two festivals have different origins. The Double Seventh Festival, as one of China's traditional festivals, reflects that agricultural civilization played a dominant role in the process of development of our country. Ancient China was a predominantly agricultural country, so China's traditional festivals are closely linked with agriculture. The Double S eventh Festival embodies people?s respect for nature in ancient Chinese culture, and the custom of worshiping the Cowhand and Weaver Maid is the best embodiment. The Valentine's Day reflects the Western?s Christian faith and the regression of human nature since the Renaissance. The Christians believe that love cannot be ignored, so the Westerners stress more on love and they place it in the first place. Westerners think that love is in accord with the feelings of nature.

Chapter Three The Celebrations of the Two Festivals.

3.1 The Celebration of the Double Seventh Festival

The Chinese have own characteristics of celebrating the Double Seventh Festival. The Double Seventh Festival is also called "Qiqiao Festival", which means people beg Emperor to give them skillful hands like the Weaver Maids?.

Due to the difference of clime culture in China, there are different celebrations: in Jiangxi province, there was a bridge meeting of the Double Seventh Festival. People came to take part in it and built a wooden bridge. At night, people faced the double stars and begged good fate，then cremating the wooden bridge, which meant that the double stars went across the bridge and had a glad meeting.

In Shandong province, a lot of people did obeisance to stars on Double Seventh Festival. Girls who were above 16 years old took part in some activities to beg the Emperor to give them good husbands. Many young ladies put on new dresses and gathered in a hall, singing some songs with good wish.

In Shanxi province, every girl should be made up well, putting on beautiful dresses, and then offering all kinds of fruits to their friends.

With the development of society, now these customs have gradually disappeared, however, the legend of the Cowhand and Weaver Maid has taken root in the hearts of the people. In recent years, in particular, urban youths have celebrated it as the Valentine's Day in China. As a result, owners of flower shops, bars and stores are full of joy as they sell more commodities for love. Our youths focus on their

individual character and emotional expression, so as to directly express their feelings. This is a major reason that the Double Seventh Festival is affected by the Western Valentine's Day.

3.2 The Celebration of the Valentine's Day

The different origins lead to the different celebrations. The Western Valentine's Day, first of all, regardless of being married and unmarried, belongs to men and women in love. Gradually, February 14 became the day for exchanging love messages and St.Valentine became the saint of lovers. The day is marked by sending poems and simple gifts. There is often a social gathering or a ball. So the date of the Valentine?s Day becomes much commercialized. Many shopping centers take advantage of the day to make promotion.

The Valentine's Day is one of the most important festivals in France. France is called the world's most romantic country. On the evening of the Valentine's Day, the advertisement of gifts is seen in everywhere. You will find the majority of these gifts are designed to "women enjoy", but of course, there are some gifts for men, but which, compared with those for women, are inconsiderable. France?s "Valentine's Day" is the "women Festival." Frenchmen do not think that the value of gifts determines the value of emotion. To the wealthy class, they can send cars to their lovers on the Valentine's Day to show their "profound love." For the middle class, they can have a nice dinner with their lovers and then spend a romantic night in a Couple?s Hotel. To the salaried class, they should bring a bouquet of roses to their lovers or a box of chocolates, even personal underwear, sharing a "love dialogue." To the poor, such as students, they may send a letter to their lovers in which they write a heart-shaped "I love you." In a word, France's Valentine's Day is a romantic festival.

In England, most men give woman gifts. They are willing to give their girlfriends gifts, such as flowers and chocolates.

In Korean and Japan, girls will give chocolates to boys as presents. The more gifts, the more popularity the boys get.

In China, generally men present roses to women, and women give chocolates to

men.

In Italy, it?s the day to express love. Unmarried women are most very special-- they stand silent before the windows and hope they will see their love.

In Mexico, the Valentine's Day is the festival to express their friendship and love-- both male and female students give gifts to the people who have ever helped them.

In Philippines, boys send roses to girls, or invite them to share a romantic dinner.

In Russian, the lovers go out for a fancy meal.

In Denmark, traditionally, local people give flattened snowdrop to their sweethearts.

Besides merchants who do their best to attract customers, some local media also add to the romance of the Valentine's Day. The Valentine's Day can be seen having a broad market in China. We can see many harsh critics keep silent for this "foreign festival—the Valentine's Day” ,this silence also can reflect that most Chinese people have accepted the values of this Western festival of Valentine's Day and the value orientation of the Chinese people have become more and more diversified. The two festivals can have "peaceful co-existence."

From the celebrations of the two festivals, we can see there are different participants in the festivals. The Valentine's Day, although it originated from religion, has now become a couple holiday. On the Valentine's Day, everybody holds roses in the street. Everyone can participate in the festival, whether they are young couples or elderly people, and children are also involved in the Valentine's Day. The Double Seventh Festival in ancient China was celebrated mainly by unmarried women, and ancient history books and poetry did n?t record that male s took part in the festival.

The Double Seventh Festival is mainly directed to young single pairs of groups. The aim is to find their loved one, then to make further development with the loved one, and finally to form a family. The Valentine's Day is not certainly for the purpose of marriage; it contains extra-marital affairs. No matter what kind of cultural background, as long as you need love, you can accept the festival.