Unit 7 Custom (1)

• I. Teaching Aims & Requirements:• Let the students understand skills of interpretation • Help to improve the English tour interpretation• • II. Content• Skills of interpretation• • III. Focus on & Difficulties:• Basic theories of interpretation

I.Brief Introduction

As a country with 56 nationalities and a history of well over 5,000 years, China observes a large number of festivals throughout the year. These colorful occasions provide the Chinese people with opportunities to leave work behind and to rest and enjoy life.

I.Brief IntroductionSince ancient times the Chinese people have used more than 100 different kinds of calendars, among which the solar calendar and the lunar calendar are the most widely observed. According to the solar calendar, a year is divided into 12 months or 365 days, with every fourth year a leap year of 366 days and the second month of the year 29 days. The lunar calendar was designed in close connection with agricultural production, so it is also called the farming calendar in China.

II.Spring Festival The Spring Festival, the lunar New Year, is commonly regarded as the most important, popular, and vibrant of all traditional Chinese festivals. This grand traditional festival falls in the period between the first and fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This festival is called as the Spring Festival, because it always falls sometime before or after lichun—Beginning of Spring.

II.Spring Festival New Year greeting is an interesting and lively event in Spring Festival celebrations. In the morning, people dress in their holiday best and pay “New Year’s Calls” on relatives and friends to wish them “A happy and bright New Year.” Children receive “lucky money” (money contained in a red envelope as a gift, symbolizing best wishes) from their seniors.

II.Spring FestivalAs a folk art, New Year’s pictures are a unique part of Spring Festival celebrations. The purpose of posting door god pictures is to suppress evil spirits and guard the common people.Spring Couplets are also pasted on the gates to express people’s reflections on the past year and their hopes for the coming one.

III. The Lantern FestivalThe Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

That night there is a full moon and every household is decorated with colorful lanterns and prepared yuanxiao, a kind of round dumpling made of glutinous rice flour with sweet or salted fillings, which is boiled or fried.

IV. The Pure Brightness Festival

Of all the traditional Chinese festivals, the Pure Brightness Festival is most poetic. Some of the activities are paying respects to ancestors at the family graveyard and caring for the tombs to cherish the memory of the dead, and modern Chinese still visit family tombs or go to mausoleums of revolutionary martyrs on the festival. Nature walks are also still a popular way to celebrate the occasion.

V. The Dragon Boat FestivalThe fifth day of the fifth lunar month is another important folk festival—the Dragon Boat Festival.Dragon boat races held on the occasion originated as a religious practice, to offer sacrifices to the river god, but now are purely recreational. The death of Qu Yuan, a great poet of the Chu Kingdom during the Warring States Period, is also commemorated on the festival. On that day, people hold dragon boat races on the lakes and rivers, and eat zongzi (pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice.)

VI. The Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon-Cake Festival)

The 15th day of the eighth lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, since ancient Chinese legends are full of tales about the moon.In the old days, when the ceremony to offer sacrifices to the moon( 祭月仪式 ) was over, family members drank “reunion wine” and had an “admiration-of-the-moon dinner” （ 赏 月饭） , then shared the offerings called moon or “family reunion” cakes, which for centuries have been a festival food loved by the Chinese people.

VII. The Double-Seventh Festival

The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. At night, the sky is dotted with stars, and people can see the Milky Way spanning from north to the south. It is originated from the Han Dynasty.

VIII. The Double-Ninth FestivalAncient Chinese took the cardinal number nine as a yang or positive number, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is observed as the Double-Ninth Festival. According to an ancient tradition, climbing high up drives away evil. On the festival, people climb heights and admire chrysanthemums.

IX. Language Pointsfestival 和 day的用法 :

• festival 一般指传统节日。用 festival表示的节日前用定冠词 the 。 day 则表示国家法定的节日 ,现代节日 ,一些西方传统节日，节日前不用冠词。但有些用法已经固定，则遵循“约定俗成”的原则。

• e.g.:• 清明节： the Clear and Bright Festival/

the Pure Brightness Festival• 国庆节： National Day 教师节： Teacher’s Day• 劳动节：May Day 儿童节： Children’s Day• 妇女节 : Women’s Day• 重阳节 the Double-Ninth Festival/ Double-Ninth Day

IX. Language Points• 节日具体日期的表达 :• 在表示节日的具体日期为“某一天”时，可以使用“ fall /be in /on，或”。此外，要注意农历日期的正确表达。例如：“正月”可以表示为 lunar January ，the first lunar month, the first month by lunar calendar. “正月初一”就可以表示为the 1st day of lunar Januarythe 1st day of the first lunar month the 1st day of the first month by lunar calendar

IX. Language Points• E.g.:

(1) 农历的九月初九是重阳节。• The Double-Ninth Festival falls/is on the ninth day of

lunar September/ the ninth lunar month/ the ninth month by lunar calendar.

• 或： The ninth day of lunar September/ the ninth lunar month/ the ninth month by lunar calendar is the Double-Ninth Festival.(2)阴历二月十九是壮族的花王节。Flower Lady Day falls/ is on February 19 of the lunar year.

IX. Language Points• 中国传统节日的命名常常有其来源和意义，体现了中国文化的特色，为了让国外的游客了解中国文化，导游必须在翻译时作出适当的解释。

• E.g.: • 端午节是中国又一重要的的民间节日，因为节日期间会举行龙舟比赛，所以又称为“龙舟节”。

• The Duanwu Festival is another important Chinese folk festival. Because the dragon boat races will be held during the festival, it is also called “the Dragon Boat Festival”.

IX. Language Points• 前文中提到的踩高跷、扭秧歌、划旱船等都是典型的春节庆典活动。实际上，各民族的传统节日中都会有一些带有民族特色的庆典项目。这类项目有：

• 赛马 : horse-racing • 射箭 : archery• 歌舞 : singing and dancing• 耍龙灯 : dragon lantern playing• 杂耍 : acrobatics• 摔跤 : wrestling

X. Homework• 1.Remember the useful expressions

and sentences.

• 2.Preview the Unit 7.