Abstract：Festival is the witness of the development of every nation, every country’s history. At the same time, festival is a way to spread spiritual culture. From ancient times, all countries have their own ways to celebrate the festival to promote and spread their own nation culture.

This subject research chooses the Chinese Spring Festival and American Thanksgiving Day that can represent the differences of history and culture between China and American as the study objects. This paper is divided into three parts: First, to elaborate the legend and origin of the Chinese Spring Festival and American Thanksgiving Day respectively. The origin is the source of a festival, we can see the reasons for its formation. Second, to compare and analysis the Chinese Spring Festival and American Thanksgiving Day from different sides, such as legend of origin, the form of celebration, the celebration activities, the different food culture, and get the similarities and differences between them. Thirdly, to understand the importance of learning festivals and culture of the intercultural communication by contacting present situation of cultural communication between the two countries.

Key words: intercultural communications; Thanksgiving Day; Spring Festival; cultural differences

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1.Introduction-5

2. The origin of Chinese Spring Festival and American Thanksgiving Day-5

2.1 The origin of Chinese Spring Festival-5

2.2 The origin of the American Thanksgiving Day-6

3. The similarities and differences between the two festivals-7

3.1 The similarities and differences in the way of the celebration.-7

3.1.1The ways of celebration in China-7

3.1.2 The ways of celebration in USA-8

3.1.3 The similarities and differences of Chinese and American celebration-9

3.2 The similarities and differences in the food culture.-9

3.2.1The food in Spring Festival.-9

3.2.2 The food in Thanksgiving.-10

3.2.3The similarities and differences of Chinese and American food-11

3.3 The similarities and differences in the etiquette-12

3.3.1 Etiquette in Spring Festival-12

3.3.2 Etiquette in Thanksgiving-13

3.3.3 Similarities and differences in the two festivals-13

4. The importance of festival culture in intercultural communication-13

5. Conclusion-14

References-15

Acknowledgments-16