中西方重要節(jié)日英文介紹

HalloweenOn October 31st, dozens of childrendressed in costumes （節(jié)日服裝）knock on their neighbors doors and yell Trick or Treat when the door opens. Pirates and princesses, ghosts and popular heroes of the day all hold bags open to catch the candy or othergoodies that the neighbors drop in. As they give each child a treat the neighbors exclaim over the costumes and try to guess who is under the masks.Since the 800s November 1st is a religious holiday known as All Saints Day （萬圣節(jié)）. The Mass that was said on this day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before became knownas All Hakkiw een, or Halloween. Like some otherAmerican celebrations, its origins lie in both pre-Christian and Christian customs.October 31 st was the eve of the Celtic （凱爾特人的）new year. The Celts were the ancestors of the present-day Irish, Welsh and Scottish people. On this day ghosts walked and mingled with the living, or so the Celts thought. The townspeople baked food all that day and when night fell they dressed up and tried to resemble the souls of the dead. Hoping that the ghosts would leave peacefully before midnight of the new year.Much later, when Christianity spread throughout Ireland and October 31 was no longer the last dayof the year, Halloween became a celebration mostly for children. Ghosts went from door to door asking for treats, or else a trick would be played on the owners of the house. When millionsof Irish people immigrated to the United States in the 1840s the tradition came with them.Today school dances and neighborhood parties called block parties are popular among young and old alike. More and more adults celebrate Halloween. They dress up like historical or political figures and go to masquerade parties （化妝舞會）. In larger cities, costumed children and their parents gather at shopping malls early inthe evening. Stores and businesses give parties with games and treats for the children.Teenagers enjoy costume dances at their schools and the more outrageous the costume the better!Certain pranks （惡作劇）such as soaping car windows and tipping over garbage cans are expected. But partying and pranks are not the only things that Halloweeners enjoy doing. Some collect money to buy food and medicine for needychildren around the world.Symbols of HalloweenHalloween originated as a celebration connected with evil spirits. Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts, goblins （小精靈）and skeletons have all evolved as symbolsof Halloween. They are popular trick-or-treat costumes and decorations for greeting cards and windows. Black is one of the traditional Halloween colors, probably because Halloween festivals and traditions took place at night. In the weeks before October 31, Americans decorate windows of houses and schools with silhouettes （輪廓）of witches and black cats.Pumpkins are also a symbol of Halloween. The pumpkin is an orange-colored squash, and orange has become the other traditional Halloween color. Carving pumpkins into jack- olanternsChinese Valentines Day（七巧節(jié)）Raise your head on August 19 and gaze at the stars, you will find something romantic going on in the sky. VALENTINES Day in China, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, falls on August19 this year. That is, on Sunday evening, Niu Lang and Zhi Nu will meet on a bridge of magpies（鵲橋） across the Milky Way（銀河）. Chinese grannies will remind children that they would not be able to see any magpies on that evening because all the magpies have left to form a bridge in the heavens with their wings.Hungry Ghost Festival（中元節(jié)）The 14th and 15th of the seventh lunar monthUnlike other celebrations of the dead in Eastern cultures that seek to honor dead ancestors, the Hungry Ghost Festival seeks to pacify the hungry ghosts, the ghosts of strangers and the un-cared-for dead. These are the ghosts of those who died by their own hands, by accidents, by drowning or hanging who have been denied entry into heaven. Angry because they are forced to dwell in hell without food or comfort, when released, they search for souls to take their place in misery.The most important days of this month are the 14th and 15th, the days of the great feasts. On the 14th, a great feast would be held to honor family ancestors. Prayers and offerings would be made at family altars. On the following night, the 15th, they would feast for the hungry ghosts. Held outside under the full moon, these feasts feed the evil spirits so that they will leave the living alone and bribe（賄賂） the ancestors for luck with money and the harvest.Winter solstice（冬至）Winter solstice is a very important solar term in Chinese Lunar calendar.Being a traditional holiday as well, it is still now celebrated quite often in many regions. Early during the Spring and Autumn period, 2500 odd years from now, Winter solsticewas first determined as the Chinese traditional solar term among the total 24 terms. In Gregorian calendar, it is around Dec 22nd or 23rd.Ancient china did pay great attention to this holiday, regarding it as a big event. There was the saying that Winter solstice holiday is greater than the spring festival. Nowadays, many regions still celebrate it as a big holiday. Northerners may have dumplings and raviolis that day while southerners may have dumplings made by rice and long noodles. Some places even have the tradition to offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth.Spring Festival（春節(jié)）The New Moon on the first day of the new year- the full moon 15 days laterChinese New Year starts with the New Moon（新月）on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon（滿月）15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival（元宵節(jié)）, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.The Origin of Chinese New YearThe Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Begining of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coodination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means year, was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.Traditional New Year FoodsProbably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. Vast amounts of traditional food is prepared for family and friends, as well as those close to us who have died. On New Years Day, the Chinese family will eat a vegetarian dish called jai. Although the various ingredients in jai are root vegetables or fibrous vegetables, many people attribute various superstitious aspects to them. Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.In south China, the favorite and most typical dishes were nian gao, sweet steamed glutinous rice（糯米）pudding and zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped up in reed（蘆葦）leaves), another popular delicacy. In the north, steamed-wheat bread (man tou) and small meat dumplings were the preferred food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time was meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for the household.Lantern Festival元宵The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival,or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth centuty, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuansiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts（胡桃）, sesame, osmanthus flowers（桂花）, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste（棗泥）. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.Qing Ming（Tomb Sweeping Day）Celebrated two weeks after the vernal equinox, Tomb Sweeping Day is one of the few traditional Chinese holidays that follows the solar calendar- typically falling on April 4, 5, or 6. Its Chinese name Qing Ming literally means Clear Brightness, hinting at its importance as a celebration of Spring. Similar to the spring festivals of other cultures, Tomb S