A Comparative Study Of Chinese And Thai Spring Festival

Chinese and Thai people have a long history of relationship, Chinese springfestivalculture plays an important role as well as has a profound impact on both culture of thetwo countries. However, with the progress of time, the two countries formed their own springfestivalcultural content, features, forms, etc., various problems arising have been paidwidespread attention. It is of significant importance to fully understand the springfestivalculture of the two countries and effectively develop its positive role of traditional folkculture, both in theory and in practice.In this paper, using Chinese and Thai spring festivalas the object, through literatureresearch, interviews, interdisciplinary research method, we conduct a comparative study onthe content, features, forms and other aspects of the Chinese and Thai spring festival, analyzethe factors affecting differences. Finally, we give out the corresponding countermeasures andsuggestions. The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:In terms of ceremony organizing：it can be divided into two phases. In the preparationphase, preparation time is the same in Chinese and Thai spring festival, activities includeremoving and cleaning-up to send off the old and welcome the new, but religion has a greaterimpact in the daily lives of Thai people, the worshipping activities are also more detailed andelaborate; in the Chinese spring festivalcelebration phase, celebrate for a longer time, paymore attention to the lively festive celebration, arrangements are more serious, the ThaiSpring Festival pay more attention to good luck and charity.In terms of effect: both Chinese and Thai spring festivalhave the commonality and theirown particularity. In Chinese Spring Festival, blessing activities primarily meet people’sdesire for peace, happiness and health, while in Thailand, it also contains the meaning ofThanksgiving for ancestors; China is the birthplace of Spring Festival, with the progress oftime it changes and makes some adjustments to local conditions when spreading to Thailand;the inheritance of spring festival’s tradition shows its endless vitality, it plays an unshakableposition in the mind of overseas Chinese around the world, where there are overseas Chinese;there is spring festival; Chinese spring festival’s form of entertainment are more traditional,Thai spring festival is integrated with more modern entertainment elements; Spring festival play a role in enlightenment, so that the relationship between people is more harmonious; itseems to be a common consensus of Chinese people to get together during spring festival, thespring festivalin Thailand appears to be a way to seek back the original home of the overseasChinese; spring festival is not only a traditional festival of the Chinese people, but also thefestival of overseas Chinese all over the world.In terms of content: Chinese people think highly of the Spring Festival, it is China’s mostimportant traditional festival and is passed down from generation to generation, but for theThai, the Spring Festival is the most important ceremony of ancestral worship rites; Thai andChinese spring festival’s rituals are basically about the same, but the manner and order aredifferent; Chinese spring festivalactivity time or legally holiday period are longer than that ofThai spring festival; there are some differences in Chinese and Thai spring festivalin visitingrelatives, giving red envelopes, eating reunion dinner and other folk customs and games.Variability: Thai spring festivalis subject to politically forced assimilation, the overseasChinese society’s help to boost the social and economic development, Buddhist culture, thecorresponding adjustment and adaptation caused by the values of Buddhist culture and ofmainstream Confucian culture.