Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Traditional Taboos

【Abstract】People always found the Taboos in the Cross-culture Cultural taboos embody the belief of a state and nation communication. The taboo culture is kind of complicated cultural and social phenomenon generally in both Chinese and Western. From the perspective of Chinese new year and Christmas， the thesis is aim to study the taboo customs of traditional festival in Chinese and Western， thereby prompting the cross-cultural communication proceed smoothly.

【Key words】cross-cultural communication; taboo; traditional festival

【作者簡介】劉雨艷（1990-），女，漢族，安徽宿州人，江蘇省徐州醫藥高等職業學校，碩士研究生，研究方向：英語語言文學，以及英語教育。

As human globalization， the people from different cultural backgrounds have frequent exchanges. Cultural taboo will exert tremendous influence on their communications. Cultural Taboo is a kind of complicated cultural and social phenomenon in both Chinese and the Western. Therefore， the paper focuses on the taboos of the traditional festivals in both China and the Western countries in order to ensure a successful communication between Chinese and the Westerns.

1. Spring Festival taboos in Chinese New Year

Chinese Spring Festival， also called Lunar New Year， has more than 4000 years of history.? Originating during Shang Dynasty， Spring Festival， which celebrates family reunion， is full of colorful activities， and hopes with the advent of spring and flowers blossoming. Its said that the custom and taboo of Spring Festival started in when people offered sacrifice to ancestors and deities. People have many taboos during this period.

In this day， people are prohibited to say ominous words such as death， ghost， lose and ill and all the ominous words must be expressed in a euphemistic way. Neither bad language nor baby cry is allowed because the cry of a child is believed to bring bad luck to the family. On the aspect of behavior， people should avoid sleeping too early and getting up late. In New Years Eve， our tradition is to “stay up”， we need to go after midnight to rest after midnight and get up early in the morning. People believed that it can ensure a health year with less sick or no sick. People cannot broke things or do cleaning because such behaviors will result in monetary loss.

Besides， Chinese culture thinks the water and earth in nature will bring wealth， so doing the laundry， bathing， disposing of dirty water and rubbish， and even the cleaning of floor are forbidden. Money should not be lent on that day， and all the debts have to be paid by New Years Eve， and， if someone who owes you money， do not go to his or her home to demand it. It is said that anyone who does so will be unlucky all the year. Hair must not be washed on the first day of the lunar year. In Chinese language， hair has the same pronunciation as fa in facai， which means ‘to become wealthy. Therefore， it is seen as no a good thing to “wash ones fortune away” at the beginning of the New Year.

2. Christmas Taboos of the Western countries

Christmas， which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ， is the biggest and best-loved holiday in the Western countries. Christmas refers to the period from the Christmas Day to the Christmas Eve， that is， from 24 December to 6 January of the next year. Its an age-old customs of enchanting a number of traditional Christmas songs during the Christmas season. It adds to the joy and fun to the atmosphere. Different Christmas hymns or carols like The First Noel， Jingle Bells， Joy to the Word， etc are sung in every Christmas as a part of the Christmas celebration.

Christmas pudding enjoy great reputation in the Western countries and “Stir up Sunday” （the last Sunday before Advent） has become associated with the start of the pudding-making process， in order to allow people to enjoy it on the Christmas Day. The stir of pudding will bring fortunes， so every family member should stirs pudding and make a wish while puddings are made. But there are two taboos： anti-clockwise stir or random stir is prohibited and the dreams cannot be told to everyone. Extra tableware and seat should be prepared when people enjoy the Christmas dinner. It is believed to prepare for the angle of the lord or the passerby who is in urgent need. The needlework is not allowed to do during the Christmas in Britain.

3. Summary

With the development of science and technology and increasingly frequent international exchanges， we often meet unfamiliar cultures and people with different thinking patterns， habits and behavior. In this case cultural conflicts would inevitably happen. Thus， we should try to understand cultural taboos， overcome cultural differences and avoid culture “conflict” so as to achieve a more effective integration and smooth process of cross-cultural exchange .

References：

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[2]高捷.再探西方文化中的節日和語言禁忌[J].學術探討，2011.