英語論文：中西方婚俗的差異

1、中西方婚俗的差異Differences Between Chinese Marriage Custom and Western Marriage Custom中西方婚俗的差異AbstractThere are many procedures in Chinese marriage custom. The book propriety and ceremony, which records earliest wedding ceremony, says that marriage includes six etiquettes, namely, proposing, asking the nam

2、e, asking for fortune, sending betrothal presents to the girl's family, discussing the date of marriage and meeting the bride. In western marriage, there are four procedures. They are proposal, changing surnames, choosing the day and holding the wedding. As the different religions, cultural orig

3、ins, marriage concepts and geographies, there are many differences existing in the two kinds of marriage customs. In Chinese marriage custom, the matchmaker functions almost all the time and youths have no right to choose and women are not on an equal footing with men. By contrast, in western marria

4、ge custom, the priest functions and the youths have legal right to choose whom they want to marry and men and women are equal. There also exist common things in the two sides. They have been maintained for thousands of years. But in recent years (especially after the founding of modern China), peopl

5、e have tended to discard some of the details and advocate simplified marriage procedures and wedding ceremonies.Key WordsMarriage 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，

6、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 IntroductionMarriage is formed in a long historical evolution of the marriage custom in a nation. It is the regularity of the activities that restr

7、ains people's awareness of marriage and marriage. Marriage customs binding does not depend on the law, and it can not rely on science tests neither, but on the force of habit, traditional culture and national psychology. During the development of human history, the institution of marriage and fa

8、mily system has experienced different processes of development. Human have experienced group marriage, the dual system of marriage and individual marriage system (monogamy).As a union of a man and a woman and a family formation stage, marriage includes not only marriage, but also the preparation pha

9、se for the marriage and the performance stage after the festivities. It runs through the whole process of life. These customs, as a national symbol and cultural development, plays a very important role in ethnic studies and the history of mankind.China is a country with an ancient civilization and a

10、 long history, and many customs. Among so many customs, there is a particular marriage custom. This custom goes through various and long stages of development from ancient simple wedding ceremony to later complex ceremony, from feudal marriage custom to the modern free marriage custom. During these

11、courses, peoples ideas are progressing, though we can not say that their ideas are up to the top of mankinds ideas in all over the world at all over the time because there are still backward ideas existing in many places, in many peoples mind and they maybe will still exist for a long time. However,

12、 they are up to the top of mankinds ideas in a certain stage of the uninterrupted development of ideas.Greek civilization is the base of western culture. Britain plays an important role in western history and western culture, and of course marriage custom.Comparing with each other, they are differen

13、t in many aspects such as in right aspect and in freedom aspect and there are many reasons that result in these differences such as cultural reason and geographical reason.I. Chinese Marriage CustomLike other folk, marriage custom has the same development and evolving process. In the early days of h

14、umanity, the human relationship in a very long period of time still carried the irregular relations like the animal world. There was no marriage at all, if suggest some, the only "arbitrary marriage."In China, marriage has gone through for a long time. As a most grand etiquette, it has alw

15、ays been a high degree of attention. To control the marriage, the family and the whole society, since the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, Chinese marriage should comply with six procedures, which is the so-called "six etiquettes." And Later in Tang and Ming Dynasty in China, marriage also compl

16、ied with the "six etiquettes". As time goes by, although many wedding customs experienced various changes "Six etiquettes" as the basic pattern has not changed much. It is still essential and core in marriage custom.Marriage has changed much today, but in many places, there still

17、 remains traditional marriage custom.In feudal society, a marriage would be decided not by the youths love, but by their parents' desires. Only after a matchmaker's introduction and when parents considered the two family conditions were similar and could be matched, would the marriage proced

18、ures went forward. Conditions that should be taken into consideration included wealth and social status. If a boy's family was well-off or an official family, his parents would never permit him to marry a girl from a poor family. Essential to the marriage process were the commonly recognized 

19、9;three Letters and six etiquettes'. The three letters were the betrothal letter, the gift letter with a gifts list and the wedding letter used on the day the bridegroom met his bride at her home.The book propriety and ceremony, which records earliest wedding ceremony, says that marriage, usuall

20、y, 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 meet between the members in the t

21、wo 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-law in old times, they would ask a matchmaker for sending the gifts and bring the son

22、 and the girl together. If the girls parents also agreed on the marriage, they would accept the gifts. People usually used a wild goose when sending the gifts. Because the wild gooses could fly to the south or the north according to the seasons and they would never change it which implied the woman

23、would be punctual and also because when the wild gooses flied they were in a row and when they stopped they were in a line which implied that woman should comply with the marriage rules and arrange in order that one should not breach it. B. Asking the NameIt aims to ask for girls name and pray.In an

24、cient times the girls name would 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 mans family through a card. And the mans family would lastly receipt for postal remittance. Thus it can be seen that “asking the name” not only

25、 meant that the mans family wanted to know the girls name, but also wrote down the womans birthday and Eight-characters (in four pairs denoting the time, date, month and year of a persons birth, each pair consisting of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch, used in fortune-telling). If the birthd

26、ay and Eight-characters were not harm the man, the mans family would lastly receipt for postal remittance. Sometimes the womans parents also wrote down the official position of the womans great-grandpa, grandpa and father and the dowry that could be supplied. Whats interesting is that during this pr

27、ogress it was the matchmaker that functioned, not the mans family or the womans family. Matchmaker was also important in the other procedures. In traditional Chinese marriage, people believed “behest of the parents and proposal of a matchmaker”. Thats why many marriages in the past were arranged by

28、parents and matchmakers. Matchmakers proposal was the marriages valid basis in Tang dynasty.It has been simplified today. Many marriage does not need this process.C. Asking for FortuneAfter asking the name, the bridegrooms side had got the womans birthday and Eight-Characters and they went to consul

29、t a fortune-teller then which was called “asking for fortune”. It included two aspects of contents. One was consult the female virtues. Ancient people regarded female virtues as the most important one in the gospel of three obedience that were obedience to ones father before marriage, to ones husban

30、d after marriage, and to ones son after ones husbands death and four virtues that was morality, proper speech, modest manner, and diligent work for a woman according to Confucian ethics.Zhong lichun, Zhuge Liangs wife (Zhuge Liang was a statesman and strategist in the period of the Three Kingdoms, n

31、ow a symbol of wisdom in Chinese folklore) was famous for her ugliness, wisdom and high female virtues. A man in old times always had many wives. In order to solidifying and stead in the family, people paid much attention to female virtues. Hence there was the saw “Marry wife is marrying virtues and

32、 take a concubine is marrying appearance”.The other one was consult good or bad luck. If they were not fit for each other in Eight-Characters according to the birthday and whats more, the woman would harm the man, the result was that this marriage would not be held and would be cancelled. If the res

33、ult was fit for each other and moreover the woman would make the man prosperous, the mans side would inform the womans side through the matchmaker and send the betrothal gifts and exchange cards. Thus the marriage was actually decided to be held.D. Sending Betrothal Presents to the Girls FamilyThe b

34、ook propriety and ceremony wrote by the scholars in Han dynasty regards it as sending money. If there is no receipt of gifts, there is no marriage. Hence whether receipt the gifts or not is the implication of the agreement of the marriage by the womans side.The significance of it includes two aspect

35、s of meaning. One is the thanks for the womans parents because the parents feed up her. The other is help the womans family prepare for dowry.E. Discussing the Date of MarriageIn the past, the bridegrooms side decided the lucky day and sent the matchmaker to inform of the womans family. People paid

36、much attention to the marriage time. They usually had a person looked at the almanac or asked for fortune. They liked having marriage in spring or autumn because spring was the time that everything comes back to life and time when spring was changing into summer and was favor to pregnant with new li

37、fe; autumn was the season of harvest. After the labor for a year, people had enough money to hold the marriage.Nowadays, it is also an important event. People pay many attentions to it.F. Meeting the BrideThe marriage is finally held after the five procedures. In the past, the bridegroom wore weddin

38、g suit, riding on a horse, and guided the bridal sedan chair to marry the bride on the day. And the bride wore a red cheongsam waiting for the bridegroom. Now, the bridegroom wares western suit, and the bride wares wedding dress and usually in a car.II. Western Marriage CustomIn the middle ages chil

39、dren were married at a young age. Girls were as young as 12 when they got married, and boys as young as 14. The arrangement of the marriage was based on monetary worth. The family of the girl who was to be married gave a dowry, or donation, to the boy she was to marry. The dowry went with her when t

40、he marriage was held and stayed with the boy forever after the marriage. After the marriage was arranged, a wedding notice was posted on the door of the church. The notice was put up to ensure that there were no grounds for prohibiting the marriage. The notice stated who was to be married, and if an

41、yone knew any reasons that the two could not marry, they were to come forward with the reason. If the reason was a valid one the wedding would be prohibited.There were many reasons for prohibiting a marriage. One reason was consanguinity, if the two were too closely related. If the boy or the girl h

42、ad taken a monastic or religious vow, the marriage was also prohibited. Sometimes widows or widowers took vows of celibacy on the death of their spouse, and later regretted doing so when they could not remarry. Other reasons which also prohibited marriage, but were not grounds for a divorce, were ra

43、pe, adultery, and incest. A couple could not be married during a time of fasting, such as lent or advent. Nor could a couple be married by someone who had killed someone.In the middle ages there were few reasons the wedding could be dissolved. One reason was if either the man or woman were not of le

44、gal age, 12 for girls and 14 for boys. If the husband or wife had previously made a religious or monastic vow or were not Christian, the marriage would be dissolved. The last reason a marriage could end was if the woman, not the man, was incapable of sexual relations.A. ProposalWhen the prospective

45、groom had obtained his fathers consent to marry, a formal marriage proposal had to be made. The prospective groom did not propose in person but sent his friends or members of his family to represent his interest to the prospective bride and her family. If they saw a blind man, a monk or a pregnant w

46、oman during their journey, it was believed that the proposal would not be accepted as these signs were thought to bring bad luck. If, however, they saw nanny goats, pigeons or wolves, this was a good omen which would bring good fortune to the marriage.During Medieval times in western countries, the

47、man proposed by leaving a hawthorn branch at the door of his beloved on the first of May. By leaving the branch at the door she accepted his proposal. She made known her refusal by replacing the hawthorn branch with a cauliflower.B. Changing SurnamesIt was thought unlucky for a woman to marry a man

48、whose surname began with the same letter as hers. The sentiment was summarized in the following thyme:To change the name and not the letter is to change for the worst and not the betterThe bride should not practice writing her new name before the wedding. This was thought to bring bad luck by tempti

49、ng fate.C. Choosing the DayAlthough most weddings now take place 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

50、the best day of allThursday for lossesFriday for crosses (= funerals)Saturday for no luck at all Advice on which month to marry in was given by the 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

51、when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you'll know.Marry in 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.Whoeve

52、r wed in August be, many a change is sure to seeMarry in September'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.Marr

53、y 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 Dead and the festival of the goddess of chastity both occurred in May. The advice was taken more seriously in Victorian times than it is today. In

54、most Churches the end of April was a busy time for weddings as couples wanted to avoid being married in May. Queen Victoria was thought to have forbidden her children from marrying in May.June was considered to be a lucky month to marry in, because it was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of love

55、and marriage.The summer as a whole was considered a good time to marry and this was partly to do with the sun's association with fertility. In Scotland one popular custom was for the bride to "walk with the sun" to bring her good. She would walk from east to west on the south side of t

56、he church and then continue walking around the church three times. D. Holding the WeddingThe wedding ceremony was finally held.The church ceremony in the middle ages took place outside the church door before entering the church for a nuptial mass. During the ceremony in front of the church doors the

57、 man stood on the right side and the woman stood on the left side, facing the door of the church. “The reason was that she was formed out of a rib in the left side of Adam.” The priest began by asking if anyone knew of any reason the couple should not be married. He also asked this of the man and wo

58、man so they might confess any reasons for prohibiting their marriage.The ceremony proceeded with the priest saying, “N (amen) wilt though have this woman to thy wedded wife, wilt the love her, and honor her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, and forsaking

59、 all others on account of her, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?” Then the priest, changing the wording of “as a husband should a wife”, asked the same of the woman. Both the man and the woman should answer by saying” I will.” At this time the woman was given by her father. The wedding continued with the saying of vows. Both the man and the woman, with the exception of the words wife and husband, said, “I N. take thee N. to my wedded wife, to have and to hold