中西婚礼文化差异--英文版

The culture differences reflected in the detail ofwedding ceremonies

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This article attempts compare different aspects of the wedding of Chinese and Western to find out the differences and analyze the causes of the differences. Wedding is an important part of culture, it has come into a different wedding customs under the influence of different cultures between the west and east. In order to find out differences between Chinese and Western wedding culture, this article will show it through the comparison on the form of wedding ceremony and wedding party.

First of all, let's focus on the wedding forms.

The feature of traditional wedding customs in China is “complicated ”. The specific process is : the man propose marriage, and if the woman agreed to the proposed marriage, the man could go to the woman's family with the bride price. And then he would ask the woman's date of birth, and divine good and bad fortune of her name and their marriage. And as a token of engagement, the man would send jewelry, silk, and even sheep or pig. The man give the dowry to the woman’s family, and two family would choose an auspicious day for the wedding. And at last, the new husband will go to his wife’s family in person to marry her. [1] The feature of traditional wedding customs in western is “romantic ”. On the wedding, playing the wedding march, relatives and friends light the candles, the priest and the choir comes in, then the bridesmaids and the best man come in, the bride’s parents accompany the bride comes into

play, and all the audience stood up. Father solemnly handed the daughter to the groom, the parents of woman sat down, all the guests seated. Pastor is the chief witness at the wedding ceremony, the new couple will make the oath of marriage, the bride and groom exchanged wedding rings. Under the leading of choir, the guests singing blessing songs. They walked out of the church, followed by the best man and bridesmaids, family members and guests then exit the church. And at last, comes the wedding party. [2]

Here, we can find out that, in China, people did not have a fixed belief, but Chinese people would respect the constraints of "moral". The Confucianism is the biggest influence on the Chinese. Confucianism thought moral indicator of filial piety is very important. Marriage is no longer a personal matter, but the big event of whole family, love is not the basis for marriage. Chinese people are very cautious about marriage. So both men and women must put family interests first when choosing their own lover. Chinese people pay special attention to "harmony between natural and human", forming a traditional concept of "big natural". So complicated wedding ceremony, worship and bow down to natural reflects the respect for the solemn marriage and natural.

However, people live in Western would not think so, capitalist culture is formed during the "Renaissance" in the 16th century. They preached "humanism", they follow the family values of freedom and equality.

Couples married for love, not the reputation and status of the family. As the wedding party is an indispensable part of the wedding, are there any differences?

In China, the traditional wedding is a very grand banquet, usually held at noon, last for one to three days. The groom's parents will entertain all their friends. On the feast, people eat, drink, chat, and then go home after dinner, and the groom will pay the cost of the wedding party. But guests are given enough gifts to pay the man wedding, and even a slight surplus. On the banquet, the bride and groom will toast to each of the guest. Chinese people would like a more lively wedding, so that they feel auspicious. People's religious belief is very clear, and the impact on the personal life is great. So their wedding should follow the religious dogma of faith. Christianity has a great influence for Westerners, a marriage which have God's testimony is very important for them.[1]

The type of food is followed the bride and groom ’s cultural tradition and the economic conditions of bride's family, because, usually, the bride's family would pay for the wedding banquet in the United States. The bride and groom will take the first dance at the beginning of banquet, and then the party begin. For westerners, rather than the wedding car pickup and put on a large banquet, the most important program of the wedding is the congratulations of priest, and the promise and rings exchanged. Wedding banquet will be in the form of a buffet, so

the guest can use a small amount of money to held a big banquet, colleagues, guests could eat any food according to their own needs, so there will not have any waste. [2]

So, we can obviously find out that Chinese people pay more attention to the festive and lively. Chinese people regard the wedding as a grand ceremony to connect the couple with the marriage, and marriage is not the tomb of love, but perfect ending of love. Western concept of traditional marriage is more open and free. They show more attention on the importance of individual freedom. And they value the practical benefits.

References

[1]绍先崇. 近代中国的新式婚丧[M].北京：人民文学出版社，2006.

[2]潘文晋. 从中西婚礼文化看中西方文化差异[J].今日南国，2008（3):160-173.