1963 What is the Chinese zodiac?

The zodiac is an intuitive representation of the twelve earthly branches, namely, Zi (mouse), Ugly (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei (sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken) and Xu (chicken).

With the development of history, it has gradually integrated into the concept of folk belief, which is manifested in marriage, life, annual luck and so on. Each zodiac has rich legends, forming a conceptual interpretation system and becoming an image philosophy in folk culture, such as the zodiac in marriage, the blessing in temple fairs, the year of birth and so on. In modern times, more people regard the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of entertainment and cultural activities.

rabbit

The legend of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon originated from Lan Mingxun, the son of Huainan, and Chang 'e was accompanied by a jade rabbit in the middle of the month. The rabbit is the symbol of the moon. "Spring and Autumn Sports Pivot" said: "If you miss Ursa major Eta, you will get a rabbit in the moon". In Yuefu poems, there is a poem "The white rabbit often kneels and plays frog nine", and Fu Xuan in the Jin Dynasty chanted: "What is in the moon?" White does not contain drugs. "

The ancients thought that there were rabbits in the moon, some said that the shadow on the moon was like rabbits, some said that both the moon and rabbits were cloudy, and some said that the rabbit's nose felt full of the moon.

Wen Yiduo's textual research shows that the rabbit as the essence of the moon began in the Han Dynasty, and it was a toad in the pre-Qin period, and later changed to a toad rabbit. There are jade rabbits and toads working together on the Han Dynasty stone in Jiaxiang, Shandong Province, and the silk paintings unearthed in Mawangdui also depict toad rabbits and the moon. By the Jin Dynasty, rabbits had represented the moon alone.