中西婚禮差異英文版

1、精品中西婚禮差異英文版Differences Between Chinese Marriage Custom and Western MarriageCustomAbstractTherearemany proceduresin Chinesemarriagecustom.Thebookproprietyandceremony,whichrecordsearliestwedding ceremony, says that marriage includes six etiquettes,namely,proposing,askingthename,askingforfortune,sendin

2、gbetrothalpresentstothegirl'sfamily,discussingthedate of marriage and meeting the bride. In western marriage,therearefourprocedures.Theyareproposal,changingsurnames, choosing the day and holding the wedding. As thedifferentreligions,culturalorigins,marriageconceptsandgeographies,therearemanydiff

3、erencesexistinginthetwokindsofmarriagecustoms.InChinesemarriagecustom,thematchmaker functions almost all the time and youths have noright to choose and women are not on an equal footing withmen.Bycontrast,inwesternmarriagecustom,the priestfunctions and the youths have legal right to choose whom they

4、want to marry and men and women are equal. There also existcommonthingsinthetwosides. They havebeen maintained感謝下載載精品for thousands of years. But in recent years (especially after thefounding of modern China), people have tended to discard some of the details and advocate simplified marriage procedur

5、es and wedding ceremonies.Key Words ：Marriage custom; differences; reasons摘要中國婚俗有著許多的儀式。最早記載婚禮習(xí)俗的儀禮云： “婚有六禮，納采、問名、 納吉、納征、請期、親迎。 ”而在西方國家主要有 4 個程序，即建議，改姓，選期和舉行婚禮。由于宗教、文化根源、婚姻觀念以及地理環(huán)境的不同在一定程度上導(dǎo)致了中西方婚俗的不同。在中國婚俗中，媒人起著決定性的作用，而作為婚姻當(dāng)事人的青年男女卻沒有選擇的自由和權(quán)力，而且男女在婚姻中的不平等現(xiàn)象也屢有出現(xiàn)。 在西方，是牧師在婚姻中起作用，并且青年男女有合法的權(quán)力去選擇自己的夫婿

6、或妻子。當(dāng)然中西方的婚俗也存在相同的地方。它們存在了上千年之久。近年來（特別是新中國成立之后），中西結(jié)合的婚姻屢有出現(xiàn)。關(guān)鍵詞婚俗；差異；原因Introduction感謝下載載精品Marriage is formed in a long historical evolution of the marriagecustominanation.Itisthe regularityoftheactivitiesthatrestrainspeople'sawarenessof marriageandmarriage.Marriage custom s binding does not depe

7、nd on the law, and itcan not rely on science tests neither, but on the force of habit,traditionalcultureandnationalpsychology.Duringthedevelopment of human history, the institution of marriage andfamilysystemhasexperienceddifferentprocessesofdevelopment.Humanhaveexperiencedgroupmarriage,thedualsyste

8、mofmarriageandindividualmarriagesystem(monogamy).As a union of a man and a woman and a family formation stage,marriage includes not only marriage, but also the preparationphaseforthemarriageandtheperformancestageafterthefestivities.Itrunsthroughthewholeprocessoflife.Thesecustoms, as a national symbo

9、l and cultural development, playsa veryimportantroleinethnicstudies andthehistoryofmankind.China is a country with an ancient civilization and a long history,andmanycustoms.Amongsomanycustoms, thereis aparticular marriage custom. This custom goes through variousand long stages of development from an

10、cient simple wedding感謝下載載精品ceremony to later complex ceremony, from feudal marriage custom to the modern free marriage custom. During these courses, people s ideas are progressing, though we can not saythat their ideas are up to the top of mankinds ideas in all overthe world atall over the time beca

11、use there are still backwardideas existing in many places, in many peoples mind and theymaybe will still exist for a long time. However, they are up to the top of mankind s ideas in a certain stage of the uninterrupted development of ideas.Greek civilization is the base of western culture. Britain p

12、lays animportant role in western history and western culture, and of course marriage custom.Comparing with each other, they are different in many aspectssuchas in rightaspectandin freedomaspectandtherearemanyreasonsthatresultin thesedifferencessuch as culturalreason and geographical reason.I. Chines

13、e Marriage CustomLike otherfolk,marriagecustomhas thesamedevelopmentand evolving process. In the early days of humanity, the humanrelationshipina verylongperiodoftimestillcarriedtheirregular relations like the animal world. There was no marriage at all, if suggest some, the only "arbitrary marr

14、iage."感謝下載載精品In China, marriage has gone through for a long time. As a mostgrand etiquette, it has always been a high degree of attention.To control the marriage, the family and the whole society, sincethebeginningofZhouDynasty,Chinesemarriageshouldcomplywithsixprocedures,whichistheso-called&qu

15、ot;sixetiquettes."And LaterinTangandMingDynastyinChina,marriage also complied with the "six etiquettes". As time goesby,althoughmanyweddingcustomsexperiencedvariouschanges "Six etiquettes" as the basic pattern has not changedmuch. It is still essential and core in marriage c

16、ustom.Marriage has changed much today, but in many places, therestill remains traditional marriage custom.Infeudalsociety,amarriagewouldbedecidednotbytheyouths love,butbytheirparents'desires.Onlyafteramatchmaker'sintroductionandwhenparentsconsideredthetwofamilyconditionsweresimilarandcouldbe

17、matched,would the marriage procedures went forward. Conditions thatshould be taken into consideration included wealth and socialstatus.Ifaboy'sfamilywaswell-offor anofficialfamily,hisparents would never permit himtomarrya girlfroma poorfamily. Essential to the marriageprocesswerethecommonlyrecog

18、nized 'three Lettersandsix etiquettes'. The threeletters感謝下載載精品were the betrothal letter, the gift letter with a gifts list and the wedding letter used on the day the bridegroom met his bride ather home.The book propriety and ceremony, which records earliest wedding ceremony, says that marri

19、age, usually, involves six necessary procedures, namely, proposing, asking the name, asking for fortune, sending betrothal present to girl's family,discussing date of marriage and meeting the bride.A. Proposing:Proposing is the first etiquette in marriage and is the first meetbetween the members

20、 in the two families. Thus, it is very important. Using a common expression, it is making an offer of marriage to another family on behalf of the son or daughter.If the parents thought that the girl could be the daughter-in-lawin old times, they would ask a matchmaker for sending the giftsand bring

21、the son and the girl together. If the girls parents alsoagreedon the marriage, theywouldacceptthegifts.Peopleusually used a wild goose when sending the gifts. Because thewild gooses could fly to the south or the north according to theseasonsandtheywouldneverchange itwhichimpliedthewomanwouldbepunctu

22、aland alsobecausewhenthewildgooses flied they were ina row and when theystopped they感謝下載載精品were ina linewhich implied that woman should comply withthemarriagerulesandarrangein orderthatoneshouldnotbreach it.B. Asking the NameIt aims to ask for girls name and pray.In ancient times the girl s name wou

23、ld not be known by other people until the girl was in an age of marriage.First, one must have the matchmaker and inform of the mansfamily through a card. And the mans family would lastly receiptforpostalremittance.Thusitcanbeseenthat“askingthename ”not only meant that the mans family wanted to knowt

24、he girl s name, but also wrote down the womans birthday andEight-characters (in four pairs denoting the time, date, monthandyearofa person s birth,eachpairconsistingofoneHeavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch, used in fortune-telling).If the birthday and Eight-characters were not harm the man, theman

25、sfamilywouldlastlyreceiptforpostalremittance.Sometimesthewomans parents alsowrote downtheofficialpositionofthewoman s great-grandpa,grandpaandfatherand the dowry that could be supplied. Whats interesting is thatduring this progress it was the matchmaker that functioned, notthe mans family or the wom

26、ans family. Matchmaker was also感謝下載載精品importantintheotherprocedures.IntraditionalChinesemarriage, people believed“behest of the parents and proposalof a matchmaker”. That s why many marriages in the past werearranged by parents and matchmakers. Matchmakers proposalwas the marriage s valid basis in T

27、ang dynasty.It has been simplified today. Many marriage does not need thisprocess.C. Asking for FortuneAfter asking thename,thebridegroom s sidehadgotthewomansbirthdayandEight-Charactersand theywenttoconsultafortune-tellerthenwhich wascalled“askingforfortune ”. It included two aspects of contents. O

28、ne was consult the female virtues. Ancient people regarded female virtues as the most important one in the gospel of three obedience thatwereobediencetoone s fatherbeforemarriage,toone shusband after marriage, and to ones son after ones husband sdeathandfourvirtuesthatwasmorality,properspeech,modest

29、 manner,anddiligentworkfor a womanaccordingtoConfucian ethics.Zhong lichun, Zhuge Liang s wife (Zhuge Liang was a statesman and strategist in the period of the Three Kingdoms, now a symbol of wisdom in Chinese folklore) was famous for her感謝下載載精品ugliness, wisdom and high female virtues. A man in old

30、times always had many wives. In order to solidifying and stead in thefamily,peoplepaidmuchattentiontofemalevirtues.Hencethere was the saw“Marrywife is marrying virtues and take aconcubine is marrying appearance”.The other one was consult good or bad luck. If they were not fitforeachotherin Eight-Cha

31、ractersaccordingtothebirthdayand whats more, the woman would harm the man, the resultwasthatthismarriagewouldnotbeheldandwouldbecancelled. If the result was fit for each other and moreover thewoman would make the man prosperous, the mans side wouldinform the woman s side through the matchmaker and s

32、end the betrothal gifts and exchange cards. Thus the marriage was actually decided to be held.D. Sending Betrothal Presents to the Girls FamilyThe book propriety and ceremony wrote by the scholars in Handynastyregardsit as sending money.If thereis no receipt ofgifts, there is no marriage. Hence whet

33、her receipt the gifts or not is the implication of the agreement of the marriage by the woman s side.The significance of it includes two aspects of meaning. One isthe thanks for the womans parents because the parents feed感謝下載載精品up her. The other is help the woman E. Discussing the Date of Marriages

34、family prepare for dowry.Inthe past, the bridegrooms side decided the luckydayandsent the matchmaker to inform of the womans family. Peoplepaid much attention to the marriage time. They usually had aperson looked at the almanac or asked for fortune. They likedhavingmarriagein springor autumnbecauses

35、pringwasthetime that everything comes back to life and time when springwas changing into summer and was favor to pregnant with newlife; autumn was the season of harvest. After the labor for a year,people had enough money to hold the marriage.Nowadays,it isalsoanimportantevent.Peoplepay manyattention

36、s to it.F. Meeting the BrideThe marriage is finally held after the five procedures. In the past,thebridegroomworeweddingsuit,ridingonahorse,andguidedthebridalsedan chairto marry thebrideontheday.Andthebrideworearedcheongsamwaitingforthebridegroom. Now, the bridegroom wares western suit, and thebride

37、 wares wedding dress and usually in a car.II. Western Marriage CustomIn the middle ages children were married at a young age. Girls感謝下載載精品were as young as 12 when they got married, and boys as youngas 14. The arrangement of the marriage was based on monetaryworth.The familyofthegirlwho wastobemarrie

38、dgave adowry,ordonation,to the boy she was tomarry.Thedowrywent with her when the marriage was held and stayed with theboy forever after the marriage. After the marriage was arranged,a wedding notice was posted on the door of thechurch. Thenoticewas put up to ensure that there werenogroundsforprohib

39、itingthemarriage.Thenoticestatedwhowastobemarried, and if anyone knew any reasons that the two could notmarry, they were to come forward with the reason. If the reasonwas a valid one the wedding would be prohibited.Therewere many reasons for prohibitingamarriage.Onereason was consanguinity, if the t

40、wo were too closely related. Ifthe boy or the girl had taken a monastic or religious vow, themarriage was also prohibited. Sometimes widows or widowerstook vows of celibacyon thedeath of their spouse, and laterregretted doing so when they could not remarry. Other reasonswhichalso prohibitedmarriage,

41、but werenotgroundsforadivorce, were rape, adultery, and incest. A couple could not bemarriedduringatime offasting,suchas lentoradvent.Norcouldacouplebemarriedbysomeonewhohadkilled感謝下載載精品someone.In the middle ages there were few reasons the wedding could be dissolved. One reason was if either the man

42、 or woman were not of legal age, 12 for girls and 14 for boys. If the husband orwife had previously made a religious or monastic vow or were not Christian, the marriage would be dissolved. The last reasona marriagecouldendwas if thewoman,nottheman,wasincapable of *ual relations.A. ProposalWhen the p

43、rospective groom had obtained his fathers consentto marry,aformalmarriageproposalhadtobemade.Theprospectivegroomdidnotproposeinpersonbutsenthisfriends or members of his family to represent his interest to theprospectivebrideandher family.If they sawablindman, amonkorapregnantwoman duringtheirjourney

44、,itwasbelievedthattheproposalwouldnotbeacceptedas thesesigns werethoughttobringbadluck.If,however,theysawnanny goats, pigeons or wolves, this was a good omen which would bring good fortune to the marriage.During Medieval times in western countries, the man proposed by leaving a hawthorn branch at th

45、e door of his beloved on the first of May. By leaving the branch at the door she accepted his感謝下載載精品proposal. She made known her refusal by replacing the hawthorn branch with a cauliflower.B. Changing SurnamesIt was thoughtunluckyfora womantomarrya manwhosesurname began with the same letter as hers.

46、 The sentiment was summarized in the following thyme:To changethenameandnottheletteris tochangefortheworst and not the betterThe bride should not practice writing her new name before thewedding. This was thought to bring bad luck by tempting fate.C. Choosing the DayAlthough most weddings now take pl

47、ace on a Saturday, it was considered unlucky in the past. Fridays were also considered unlucky particularly Friday the 13th. The famous old rhyme advised a wedding in the first half of the week:Monday for wealthTuesday for healthWednesday the best day of allThursday for lossesFriday for crosses (= f

48、unerals)Saturday for no luck at allAdviceonwhichmonthtomarryinwasgivenbythe感謝下載載精品following rhyme:Married when the year is new, he'll love, kind and true.When February birds do mate, you neither wed nor dread your fate.If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you'll know.Marry i

49、n April when you can, Joy for Maiden and for Man.Marry in the month of May, and you'll surely rue the day.Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you'll go.Those who in July do wed, must labor for their daily bred.Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to seeMarry in September

50、's shrine, your living will be rich and fine.If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.Marry in May and you'll live to rue the dayMay had been considered an unlucky month to marry in for a number of reasons. In Pagan times the Feast of the