中西方婚俗的差異-資料下載頁

【導讀】phenomenon.different,richandvaried.result”,theso-calledweddingmeans“marrywhenfaint”the

　　

【正文】 w name before the wedding. This was thought to bring bad luck by tempting fate. Third, although most weddings now take place on a Saturday, it was considered unlucky in the past. Fridays were also considered unlucky particularly Friday the 13th. May 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 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 getting married , because it was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of love 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 the church and then continue walking around the church three times. Fourth, the 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 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 woman so they might confess any reasons for prohibiting their marriage. 3. Different Wedding Procedures In Chinese traditional wedding ceremony, when the groom fetch the bride. Then the bride and the groom must perform formal bows. Usually first they bows to Heaven and Earth. Second they bow to the groom’s parents. Third they bow to each other. And then it is the wedding banquet. Usually the groom will be urged to drink. At last is the teasing the bride. The good friends of the groom usually play a prank to the bride. For example: the friends of the groom take an apple in the air with a string, then both the bride and groom must eat the apple without any help but their own mouths. The game will not stop until the friends of the groom pleased. After three days of marriage the bride will go back to see her parents. Also the groom must go with the bride. And they must bring some presents with them. In western wedding ceremony, first, in wedding march, the bride’s father put the bride’s hands to the priest. Then the bride and the groom will make marriage statements. The priest ask the bride and groom: “would you take this woman (man) to be your lawful wedded wife (husband) to live together in holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her (him), cherish her (him), keep her (him), honor her (him) in sickness, in health, forsaking all others and cleave only to her (him) so long as both shall live?” If the bride and groom answer “yes”, t he priest will let them exchange the doublering ceremonies, and then the bride and groom kiss each other. At this moment, the priest will say: “I now pronounce you husban d and wife, and hope you’ll be very happy”. 7 Ⅳ. Reasons for the Differences above A. Different Religions Among all the religion which people seek to worship, Christianity is by far the most influential in the west. Every phase of man’s life is touched by this religion, so it has bee part and parcel of western culture. British dominant religious belief is Christian faith。 or rather the . is a country of Christianity. Bishop ordered marriage law as the fourth chapter in 1234. After issuing the law, it was carried on under the strong church control. In 1917, the marriage law referred: wedding ceremony should be held by priest or at least two witness。 the willing should be true and not be forced. The bride, wore a lower hem white silk gown dragged to the ceremony, was originally a Catholic service. Since ancient times some European countries are theocratic state system, people get married have to go to church to receive the priest39。s prayers and blessings, so as to be formal legal marriage. Most Chinese people believes Buddhism which advocates “why and because relationship”. In this point of view, sky is the reason, and earth is the result。 parents are the reason, and sons or daughters are the result。 husband is the reason, and wife is the result. So when bride and groom get married they must first bow to the heavens and earth and then the groom’s parents and at last bow to each other. B. Different Cultural Origins Traditional Chinese traditional marriage custom was characterized by a distinctive patriarchal clan system. “Three obedience and four virtues” decided that women should bee an appendage to the men and be subordinated to the family interest. It was also characterized by strong feudal political color. Marriage sometimes was a kind of ways to ally in political. The policy of cementing friendly relations through political marriages was a typical example in history. The traditional marriage custom was influenced deeply by Confucianism. There sill exists differences between males and females in marriage custom today. This phenomenon is also caused by the traditional Chinese culture. Western marriage custom is influenced deeply by religion, however, which emphasizes both men and women are God’s sons and daughters, so they are equal unlike Chinese who pay more attentions to boys. Western people consider girls are also the fruit of love. C. Different Marriage Concepts Chinese people once thought that marriage was a kind of ways to inc