October 31 is Halloween for Americans. This year’s Halloween was also the first important festival I have experienced in America since I came here. When I was walking down Main Street that day, I was impressed by children dressed in costumes, often as princesses or action heroes. Later in the evening, a lot of children came to my house to collect candy by yelling “trick or treat”. The colorful decorations and special way of celebrating Halloween reminds me of the Ghost Festival in China.
There are several special days related to ghosts in China. The most important one is on July 15th in the Chinese lunar calendar, known as The Hungry Ghost Festival. In Chinese tradition, ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, are believed to come out from heaven and hell to visit the living that day. People prepare a sumptuous meal and ritualistic offerings for the ‘hungry ghosts’, because they believe that satisfying the ghosts will bring them good fortune and luck in their lives.
The Chinese ghost festival is very different from Halloween in America, especially decorations and atmosphere of the two counties. Firstly, the decorations of the two holidays are different. In the America, Halloween decorations make Halloween more like a party. People begin to decorate their houses long before Halloween. When you see carved pumpkins with happy or sad faces, you know Halloween is drawing near. I live in Walla Walla, a small town in America, and almost every house provided me with a “Wow” moment with zombies, spider webs, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. I was amazed to see different house decorations: one presented a spider web with a human body caught in it; one had a bloody garage; one owned a beautiful fairy princess yard…In China, people do not decorate their houses that much, but Chinese people do a lot of ritualistic offerings to the deceased. These offerings include burning incense, joss paper, burning fake money notes (hell money), and even paper houses, televisions, cars and clothes. They believe that these offerings can help the ghosts live comfortably in their world. Many people also buy and release miniature paper boats and lanterns on the water, which are supposed to help those lost ghosts find their way back home.
Secondly, the atmosphere is different. In America, it seems that people are not scared by ghosts. They decorate houses, hold parties and play games. Personalities like optimism, relaxed attitudes and creativity are easily seen from how they celebrate Halloween. On the contrary, Chinese people are more serious and superstitious in how they treat the deceased. On one hand, elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each deceased family member as if they were still living. On other hand, many Chinese still believe that evil ghost might cause you to drown in the swimming pool and the wandering ghost may possess children. So, it is not surprising that many swimming pools, beaches, and grocery stores close early that day and children are not allowed to go outside. People are also suggested to dress simply to show respect to ghosts.
Although there are differences between the Chinese ghost festival and an American Halloween, businessmen are happy in both cases because they can sell a lot of stuff related to the festival. More importantly, traditions are being passed from generation to generation in both countries. I felt so excited to experience a Halloween in America. The colorful decorations and happy faces of children reminded me of Chinese culture. I hope young Chinese people will not forget their own traditional ghost festival as well.
I’d never heard of Chinese ghost festivals before! It could be really fun to commemorate them here in Walla Walla… You evoke a lot of beautiful images in your descriptions of the rituals in China.
i’d never heard about ghost festival. hoo…hooo…! beautiful……….! woo…………woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…………………….!
[…] it comes from. For instance, the American idea of a ghost is a bit different from the Chinese. Do you know how? Learning interesting things about the culture of the language you’re studying can help you […]
[…] de su lugar de origen. Por ejemplo, los fantasmas de Estados Unidos son diferentes de los de China. ¿Sabes por qué? Aprender cosas interesantes sobre la cultura del inglés puede ayudarte a entenderlo mucho […]
[…] 了解文化起源:什麼意思呢?由於很多鬼故事、都市傳說,大多從很久以前流傳到現在,而很多故事內容或者角色已經被改寫或者現代化了。比如說,萬聖節有名的傑克南瓜燈好了,他其實出自於沈睡谷傳奇故事裏的一個角色。 花點時間去了解這些故事跟他們的文化出處之間有甚麼樣關聯,能了解英文背後的文化意義解釋,也更能揣摩許多英文語意。比如說,美國人說的萬聖節鬼魂跟中國亞洲說的農曆七月鬼月的定義就很不一樣,看看他們各自是怎麼發展而來的吧! […]
[…] เรียนรู้ผลกระทบทางวัฒนธรรม เรื่องผีหลายๆ เรื่องใช้ชุดความคิดที่มีอยู่ในสังคมอยู่แล้วเป็นเวลานาน ในขณะที่บางเรื่องก็ถูกเขียนซํ้าหรือเขียนขึ้นใหม่ในบริบทของโลกสมัยใหม่อย่างเช่น แจ๊ค โอ แลนเทิร์น จากเรื่อง “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” ที่คุณจะได้อ่านต่อไปในลิสต์ของเรา คุณควรใช้เวลาในการค้นหาว่าเรื่องที่คุณอ่านถูกเปลี่ยนแปลงให้เข้ากับยุคสมัยอย่างไร หรือหาว่าเรื่องที่คุณอ่านมาจากวัฒนธรรมแบบไหน ตัวอย่างเช่น ความคิดเรื่องผีสางในแบบอเมริกันนั้นแตกต่างกับแบบจีน คุณรู้ไหมว่าทำไม? ก็เพราะว่าการเรียนรู้เรื่องที่น่าสนใจเกี่ยวกับวัฒนธรรมของภาษาที่คุณกำลังฝึกฝนสามารถช่วยให้คุณเกิดความเข้าใจมากขึ้น […]
[…] Sebagai contoh, gambaran orang Amerika tentang hantu agak berbeda dengan gambaran orang Cina. Anda tahu bedanya? Mempelajari hal-hal menarik tentang budaya bahasa yang dipelajari dapat membuat Anda lebih […]
[…] 文化への影響を知る。ホラー小説に使われているアイデアにはずっと昔からあるものも少なくありません。下記のリストにある“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”に登場するジャック・オー・ランタンのように、現代の文化に合わせて何度も描きなおされているものもあるのです。自分の読んだ小説が文化においてどんなふうに繰り返し利用されてきたのか調べてみましょう。例えば、アメリカ人の考える幽霊は、中国人のそれとは少し異なります。どう異なるのでしょう?学んでいる言語の文化についてのおもしろい事柄を学ぶと、その言語のことがより理解できるようになるはずです。 […]
[…] hayalet anlayışıyla Çinlilerin hayalet anlayışı birbirinden biraz farklıdır. Ne anlamda farklı olduğunu biliyor musunuz? Öğrenmekte olduğunuz dil hakkında ilginç şeyler bilmek dili çok daha iyi anlamanıza […]
[…] 어떤 문화에서 비롯된 것인지를 알아보는 것도 좋습니다. 예를 들어, 미국 유령은 중국의 그것과는 차이가 나는데 구체적으로 그 차이점이 무엇인지 공부해 보는 겁니다. 여러분이 배우고 […]