Eight Important Chinese and Western Festivals
Adult Day (Japan, 65438+ 10/5)-Adult Day
Valentine's Day (February 14)- Valentine's Day (Valentine's Day)
Lantern Festival (Lunar 65438+ 10/5)-Lantern Festival
Carnival (Brazil, mid-to-late February)-Carnival
Peach Blossom Festival (Japanese Girls' Day, March 3rd)-Peach Blossom Festival (Doll Festival)
International Women's Day (March 8)-International Women's Day
St Patrick's Day (Ireland, March 65438, 2007)-St Patrick's Day
Maple Sugar Festival (March-April, Canada)-Maple Sugar Festival
April Fool's Day (April 1)- April Fool's Day
Easter (the first Sunday after the full moon at the vernal equinox)-Easter
Songkran Festival (65438+April 3rd, Thai New Year)-Songkran Festival
Food Festival (Singapore, April 65438, 2007)-Food Festival
International Labor Day (May 1)- International Labor Day
Boys' Day (Japan, May 5th)-Boys' Day
Mother's Day (the second Sunday in May)-Mother's Day
Ramadan-Bamadan
Eid al-Fitr (April or May, 1 month 1 day)-Little Bailan
Bank holidays (UK, May 3 1)- bank holidays
International Children's Day (June 1)- International Children's Day
Father's Day (the third Sunday in June)-Father's Day
Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month)-Dragon Boat Festival
Midsummer Festival (Nordic June)-Midsummer Festival
Eid al-Adha (Islamic festival, late July)-Colban
Chopsticks Festival (August 4th, Japan)-Chopsticks Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival (August of the lunar calendar 15)- Mid-Autumn Festival
Teacher's Day (China, September 10)- Teacher's Day.
Respect for the elderly (Japan, September 15)- Day for the Elderly
Oktoberfest (German October Festival, 10, 10)- Oktoberfest
Pumpkin Festival (North America 65438+1October 3 1)- Pumpkin Day
Halloween (Halloween New Year's Eve, 65438+1October 3 1)- Halloween
Halloween (165438+1October 1)- Halloween
Thanksgiving Day (USA,165438+1last week of October 4th)-Thanksgiving Donation
Nurse's Day (65438+February 65438+February)-Rest Day
Christmas Eve (65438+February 24th)-Christmas Eve
Christmas (65438+February 25th)-Santa Claus
Boxing Day (65438+February 26th)-Boxing Day
New Year's Eve (65438+February 31)-bank holidays in many countries.
Spring Festival (lunar calendar 1 month 1 day)-Spring Festival (Lunar New Year).
New Year (New Year)
1. Calendar
The first day of July in the Jewish calendar; The first day of the first month of the Islamic calendar; Gregorian calendar, solar calendar or solar calendar. It was named in memory of Pope Gregory XIII's adoption of this calendar in 1582. According to the solar or Gregorian calendar, the New Year begins at 1( 1 year 1 month). On New Year's Day, people bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
2. Wish: Happy New Year. I wish you a happy new year. Happy new year. Thank you. You too. Congratulations on getting rich, good health and all the best.
Due to different cultures and customs, people in different countries celebrate New Year's Day and New Year's Day in different ways and forms.
In western countries, although Christmas is the biggest festival, the New Year still plays an irreplaceable role in people's minds. The New Year's Eve party is an important activity to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. People in western countries like to spend the last night of the year happily in cheerful music and gorgeous brilliance. Masquerade balls are especially popular at this time. The guests hid their dignity and caution behind masks and dressed strangely. Everyone is very free, having a good time, and their behavior is very different from usual. In Britain and the United States, as soon as the midnight bell rings, people attending the party will hold hands and sing the famous Scottish folk song Auld Lang Syne.
Christmas (Christmas)
Christmas is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, and the recognized date is 65438+February 25th. Originally a religious festival, Christmas has gradually evolved into a national festival with national style, which is very popular in the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia and other western countries, and even some countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Christmas refers to Christmas or Christmas tide, that is, 10 from February 24th to the following year1October 6th. In addition, people regard the night of 65438+February 24th as Christmas Eve.
1. Jesus Christmas
Jesus is the founder of Christianity and the son of God. About 6 BC, Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, who was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and was born in the stable of an inn in Bethlehem near Jerusalem. When Jesus grew up, he began to preach and gathered twelve disciples. He thought that to save the earth, Judaism must be reformed at that time, so he put forward a series of his own religious opinions. However, because his words and deeds clashed with the Jewish rulers and social authorities at that time, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his disciples, and was crucified. Jesus ascended to heaven three days after his death. His disciples inherited his career and preached.
Step 2: Christmas tree
The Christmas tree can be said to be the most important decoration for Christmas. Christmas trees generally use a whole tower-shaped evergreen tree (such as shirts, cypresses, etc.). ), or tie a tower Christmas tree with pine and cypress branches. The trees are covered with glittering gold paper and silver paper, snowflakes made of cotton and colorful lanterns, candles, toys, gifts and other decorations. There is a big star at the top of the tree. Colored lights or candles on the tree symbolize that Jesus is the light of the world, and the big star represents the star that led three oriental sages to Bethlehem after Jesus was born.
There are different opinions about the origin of the Christmas tree.
3. Santa Claus/Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a typical image known to all ages in the west, a combination of saints and gods, and a synonym for kindness and generosity. It is generally believed that Santa Claus is an amiable old man with a silver beard. He is wearing a red pointed hat, a scarlet robe with a white leather collar and a wide cloth belt around his waist. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus drove a sleigh full of gifts pulled by eight deer from the northern snow country, came down from the chimney, went through the fireplace and came to the room, and put candy, toys and other gifts into the socks that children hung on the fireplace and bedside.
According to legend, Santa Claus is the incarnation of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Mela in Asia Minor in the eastern part of the Roman Empire (present-day Turkey). Dutch immigrants brought the legend of Santa Claus to the United States in the17th century. Santa Claus in American English is Santa Claus? Santa Claus was originally called "Saint Nicholas" in Dutch. Bishop saint nicholas was charitable before his death. He secretly gave gold as a dowry to a farmer's three daughters to be married, and threw a bag of gold into the chimney, which happened to fall into a stocking on the fireplace. So now, on Christmas Eve, many naive children hang their socks carefully by the fireplace or bedside, expecting Santa Claus to send gifts.
In modern countries such as Britain and the United States, in order to attract and attract customers, many department stores will send people to dress up as Santa Claus during Christmas and distribute candy and gifts to customers (especially children brought by customers) who have been shopping in the store.
4. Christmas cards and presents
According to the custom, people give Christmas cards and gifts to each other at Christmas. Greeting cards can be bought in the store or made by yourself. Just write a congratulatory message and write your own name. Sending greeting cards is generally based on the other party's hobbies and their relationship with themselves for one year. Not only colleagues, classmates and friends exchange gifts, but also family members have the habit of exchanging greeting cards and gifts. This is the most common activity to celebrate Christmas.
5. Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is the main meal of Christmas. Some families arrange Chinese food, while others arrange dinner. This meal is mainly a family dinner, and guests are generally not invited. The main foods of Christmas dinner are: turkey or roast goose, pudding and various biscuits (such as golden butter biscuits).
According to the custom, when eating Christmas dinner, one more seat and one more set of tableware are often needed. Some people say this is for the "angel of the Lord", while others say it is for a passerby who needs help.
6. Christmas carols
On Christmas Eve (from the evening of February 24th to the morning of February 25th, 65438+), Christians organized singing groups to sing Christmas carols in Christian homes and deliver good news. It is said that this is a good news that imitates angels to report the birth of Christ to shepherds on the outskirts of Bethlehem on the night of the birth of Christ. There are many carols, such as Silent Night, Jingle Bells, Little Bethlehem, The Magi and so on, most of which are related to the birth of Jesus.
Easter
Easter is an important festival for the resurrection of Christ Jesus. For Christians, Easter is second only to Christmas.
In 325 AD, the Nicaean Conference decided to designate the first Sunday after the first full moon in March of 2 1 year as Easter to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, the founder of Christianity. So the exact date of Easter every year is uncertain. Because Easter always falls on Sunday, its English expression can be Easter/Easter Day or Easter Sunday. The week after Easter is called Easter Week, during which Christians pray every day.
40 days before Easter, there is a Lent called Lent, which lasts for 40 days from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter. This is mainly to commemorate Jesus' fasting or repentance for 40 days in the wilderness. Lent provides an opportunity for believers to repent, fast, restrain themselves and repent, and requires them to clean up the evil deeds and sins of the past year.
According to Christian custom, on the day before Easter, Christians hold night prayers. That night, all the lights in the church went out, which meant that the world was dark. When the midnight bell rang, the priest walked into the church with a lighted candle (symbolizing the light of Christ) and lit the candles in the hands of all believers. Soon, the whole church was illuminated by many candles, and the prayer was over.
Easter will hold religious ceremonies and activities, such as "Eucharist". The first sentence when people meet is "The Lord has risen". Then people give Easter eggs to each other, and children eat rabbit candy and tell rabbit stories. According to the customs of western countries, eggs and rabbits are typical symbols and mascots of Easter.