为朋友孩子写的一篇介绍中国春节和西方圣诞节比较的英文演讲小文章。欢迎朋友们指正。
Hi, there. First of all, I'd like to extend my best wishes to you and your family on the special occasion of the Chinese Spring Festival. Today, I would like to introduce the differences between the Chinese Spring Festival and Christmas in the West.
Chinese people begin to prepare for the celebration of the Spring Festival on the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, the Laba day. Just a few days before the Chinese New Year, we also clean our house and decorate it with cutouts such as couplets and sweetie phrases. People also have an haircut before the Eve in order not to have any haircut in the coming lunar month. Families will also clean family altars, send kitchen god back to heaven and hold a prayer of thanksgiving to their ancestors. All of the things to do are to make sure the family will have a good fortune in the coming year.
On the Eve of Chinese New Year, families will have a reunion dinner together. The feast normally includes dumplings in the north and Niangao in the south,both wishing the family have a good fortune in the coming year. People will set firecrackers and watch a specially dedicated TV show by CCTV in Beijing.
People would conduct many activities from the first day up to the fifteenth day of the lunar month. They would welcome the deities of heaven and earth, honor one's elders and families, visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended families, visit friends and have meals with each other, watch all kinds of traditional performances, kick off new business and so on. The last day of Spring Festival is the Lantern Festival. Rice dumplings tangyuan, a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, are eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.
Hundreds of millions of people would go home to visit their family during the Spring Festival. Due to the increase in living standard, more and more people choose to travel with their family and friends instead of staying home all the time.
People in China are open to the Western cultural influence in recent years and thus makes it possible for Chinese to learn more about Christmas in the west.
Unlike the Chinese to celebrate the Spring Festival due to the agricultural practice, Christmas is associated with Jesus Christ, that is, to celebrate the birthday of Jesus on December 25th. People in the west would make big shopping in department stores before the day. On the Eve of Christmas, families would decorate their houses with Christmas trees, prepare lots of gifts and have a big meal together.
Like the kids in China wishing new clothes and red envelops on the Eve of the Spring Festival, kids in the Christian world also wish to get gifts from Santa Claus, the old man carrying a big bag full of gifts for children. You can imagine how happy the kids would be when they find gifts in their socks in the morning of next day.
Many people would give gifts to their family and friends on the Christmas day. Christmas cards used to be very popular and they have been mostly replaced by e-cards. Many people begin to send regards to their family and friends via instant messages such as facebook messenger, twitter, instagram or other apps. This is quite similar to Chinese who send their greetings via wechat or other popular apps.
Many Chinese would like to have gatherings on the Christmas Eve due to the influence of the western culture. People in the west also begin to celebrate the Chinese New Year because China is rising as an economic power. People begin to know each other better because of the popularity of these holidays. The world is getting smaller like a tiny village.
There is a saying, East or west, home is the best. We could stay at home and connect with the rest of the world via internet. We could have celebrations on all the special occasions including Chinese New Year and Christmas Eve.
Wish you all the best.
Thanks for watching!