Into the Mid?Autumn Festival 中秋节里的文化探幽

王涛涛

中秋節是中国最重要的传统节日之一，通过中秋节，人们可以感受到中国传统节日的独特魅力。

1 Chinese seem to bring their happiness to the people around the world during festivals， especially in the Mid?Autumn Festival. So?called “The moon， growing full now over the sea， brightens the whole of heaven” exactly conveys such an idea.

2 With regard to the universality of the connotation（含义） of the Mid?Autumn Festival， enjoying the full moon is one of the main festival folk customs in the traditional Mid?Autumn Festival. Not only limited to enjoying the full moon， the Mid?Autumn Festival has been a major day for social activities in Ming and Qing dynasties and belonged to one of the three largest festivals. The main significance of the Mid?Autumn Festival lies in celebrating the harvest， strengthening family ethics and advocating interpersonal communication. The main content of the Mid?Autumn Festival is laying emphasis on family ethics and interpersonal relationships.

3 Traditional festivals are an important opportunity of intensively showing traditional culture while Chinese and overseas Chinese are the important carriers of popularizing traditional Chinese festivals to the world. When joyfully celebrating traditional ethnic festivals， they are emphasizing their cultural identity， showing the cultural glamour（魅力） of traditional Chinese festivals， and bringing the residents different cultural feelings through the festival ceremonies， festive dishes of ethnic groups and the emotional conveyance （传送） of festivals contained in them. Our traditional festivals will be endowed with global significance if the Spring Festival， the Mid?Autumn Festival and other festivals can draw the attention of local residents， enable them to understand our traditions and share our cultural heritage with them.

4 To present traditional Chinese festival culture to the world， we should depend on small but complete festival items. For instance， markers like festival ceremonies， activities， gifts， food， souvenirs and dolls should be meticulously polished and designed to turn intangible non?material culture into enjoyable and tangible material carriers. Only such festival items can move people. For example， the roses on Valentines Day， the fried thin paste on Chinese Valentines Day and the moon cakes in the Mid?Autumn Festival all have their tastes and implications. In the meanwhile， we can also learn from the festival folk customs created by East Asian countries and overseas Chinese， enrich and expand the contents of our traditional festival customs， enable traditional festivals to further meet the demand of globalization， get closer to human nature and better serve families and society.

[Reading][Check]

Ⅰ. Choose the best answers according to the text

Genre 1. What is the type of this text？

A. A description.  B. A narration.

C. An argumentation.  D. An exposition.

Detail    2. What can we learn about traditional festivals from the text？

A. They can display traditional culture.

B. They have global significance.

C. They are celebrated for the good harvest.

D. They change different cultural feelings.

Inference    3. What message does the author seem to convey in the text？

A. Traditional festivals are necessary for Chinese culture.

B. We should know the connotation of traditional festivals.

C. We need to share our cultural heritage with each other.

D. Traditional Chinese festivals are of great importance.

Gist    4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about？

A. Characteristics of traditional Chinese festivals.

B. Development of traditional Chinese festivals.

C. Importance of celebrating traditional Chinese festivals.

D. Ways to make traditional Chinese festivals popular.

Ⅱ. Discussion

Do you agree on the significance of traditional Chinese festivals in the text？ Whats your understanding of the significance of traditional Chinese festivals？

[Language][Study]

Complete the following phrases according to the text

1. 中秋節 theFestival

2. 关于 withto

3. 民间习俗customs

4. 庆祝丰收 celebrate the

5. 强调 lay   on

6. 人际关系     relationships

7. 文化身份 cultural

8. 依靠;取决于on