Abstract：The most representative aspect of a national culture is festival, because festival is the essence of people's daily life. Spring Festival and Christmas Day are the most important and the most representative festivals in the two countries. This thesis discusses the cultural differences and describes the similarities between Spring Festival and Christmas Day. Researching these kinds of differences is better for us to assimilate the positive values of the foreign culture, to preserve and promote the cultural essence of the Chinese nation. This thesis describes the historical origins of festivals, the differences of Spring Festival between Christmas Day, including the causes，the impacts, and so on. So it is of special importance to make this unique traditional culture medium called "festival" better adapted to modern civilization and conduct the good service for modern civilization by means of describing every aspect of the major festivals in China and the United States and analyzing the different features, functions and emphasis of the festivals between China and the United States.

Key words: Spring Festival; Christmas Day; cultural difference

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

Introduction-5

1.The origins of Spring Festival and Christmas Day-6

1.1The festivals of China-7

1.2 The holidays of U.S7

    1.3 What is the Spring Festival and Christmas Day? 7

2. The origins of Spring Festival and Christmas Day-7

2.1 The real meaning of culture.7

2.2 The origin of Spring Festival.7

2.3 The origin of Christmas Day7

3. The Cultural Features of Spring Festival and Christmas Day-8

    3.1 The festive spirit connotation and the wide generalization of object.8

        3.1.1The cultural Features of Spring Festival8

        3.1.2The cultural Features of Christmas Day.8

3.1.3 The object of worship9

3.1.4 Greeting 9

4.The functions of Spring Festival and Christmas Day-9

4.1 Why the festival of two countries culture are different？9

4.2 The economic function of Spring Festival.11

4.3 The communicative functions of Spring Festival and Christmas Day.11

  4.3.1 The social function of Spring Festival and Christmas Day.11

4.4 Festival is more important than everything else of a nation11

5. Conclusion-11

References-14

Acknowledgements-14