The gaps between Western and Eastern cultures are always significantly distinct, so that the western are verry excited to discover the eastern's cultures and vice versa. One of the clearest conceptions might be the outlook of New Year festival. While the majority of the world celebrate New Year festival at the begining of a new year, there are some parts on this Earth still remain their traditions to celebrate Lunar New Year based on the moon's cycle.
Time to celebrate
The first difference between New Year festivals in 2 sides in general would be the time of the year. The Western countries usually regard January 1st as the begining day of New Year festival when the Eastern nations such as China, Vietnam usually count days due to the lunar calendar ( the cycle of the moon).
Both the Western and the Chinese calendars are based on astronomical cycles: the rotation of the Earth (a day), the Earth's orbit of the sun (a year) and the orbit of the moon around the Earth (a month). Calendar systems are complex because there is no fixed, regular number of days or lunar months to a year. The Chinese calendar is based on observations of the astronomical cycles, whereas the Western calendar uses set dates that approximate the astronomical cycles.
- The Lunar calendar is based on the Moon's cycle around the Earth
The Western calendar is a solar calendar -- it is based on the Earth's revolution of the sun and the progression of seasons. Consequently, every month has the same number of days from year to year, except during a leap year. The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar. It tracks time according to the cycle of the moon's phases as well as the progress of the sun. In the Chinese calendar, each month begins with the occurrence of a new moon. This results in the Chinese calendar sometimes having an extra month included in the year, and from one year to the next, a variable number of days to make up the length of a year.
With the exception of February, each month in the Western calendar has 30 or 31 days, and there are 12 months every year. Since the months of the Chinese calendar are derived from the lunar cycle, which lasts 29.53 days on average, its months are either 29 or 30 days long. Like the Western calendar, the Chinese calendar's ordinary year has 12 months, but a leap year, every two or three years, will include an extra 13th month. The ordinary year in the Chinese calendar runs between 353 and 355 days; a leap year has from 383 to 385 days.
As a result, the Lunar New Year festival usually starts later than the usual Western New Year.
Activities people do in these days
To greet New Year festival, there are some common activities people usually do such as set off fireworks, give each other good wishes or decorate houses... However, there are also some particular differences among the Western people and the Eastern ones in these days:
- People usually give "lucky money" to children or old people to wish them a strong age
For those who celebrate their New Year on Lunar calendar, the last day of the year ( usually on 30rd December of Lunar calendar), it is very important to make a big feast including various dishes for ancestor worship. Parents usually cook in kitchen and children may give a hand a little bit. The traditional feast usually contain boiled chicken, stewed meat, 5 - kind - of - fruit tray... At the time of begining new year, they usually incense and pray for a happy new year, after that, people may go to pagodas or come to visit their relatives for the first time of the new year for lucky. They might stay up late till morning.
Related posts:
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét