Why are the mice in the zodiac ahead of the cows?

Because the largest number of mice in animals represents ordinary people who create wealth,

After "mouse" represents human, it is impossible for a cat that eats mice to enter the 12 zodiac.

Why do rats rank first? People are the first element of a country. They strive to save food, use less, and create wealth for the country, which is the foundation of the country and respects it as the first.

There is also a folklore that says:

There is a legend:

It is said that the Jade Emperor chose 12 animals as representatives, and then sent immortals to tell the animals about it. He also set a time to take part in the Maori election in Uzuki in the year of Mao. The earlier the queue comes, the worse the front and back will be. At that time, cats and mice were still good friends. The cat loves to sleep, but also wants to be chosen, so he asked the mouse to call him. But as soon as the mouse turned around, he forgot to ask the mouse to call him old cow, saying that he got up early and ran fast.

At that time, dragons had no horns and chickens had horns. Just tell the chicken that the chicken is already beautiful. You don't need horns to summon chickens to lend them to him. After listening to the flattery of the dragon, you are glad to lend them. Tell him to pay back the money on time after the election. The dragon is full of hope.

In the year of Mao Mao, Uzuki, when the cat was still sleeping, many animals rushed to the Heavenly Palace.

The mouse sat on the cow's back until it reached heaven. The Jade Emperor said that he was the first to arrive and asked him to rank first, then the second tiger came to rank third and the rabbit came to rank fourth. The dragon came very late, but I saw him at a glance and asked him to come and have a look. He is so beautiful that he ranks fifth. He also said that his son ranked sixth, and Long was disappointed because his son didn't come today. Then the snake at the back came over and said, he is my godfather, and I am sixth! I am the sixth! Snakes rank sixth, and horses and sheep come towards them. You asked me to let you: Marco, you first ~ ~ Brother Yang, you first ~ ~ The Jade Emperor who pushed them around saw that they were so polite, and ranked seventh and eighth. The monkey was originally in his thirties, but because he could jump, he jumped in front with the clouds in the sky, and then the chicken, dog and pig were selected one after another.

The cat didn't wake up until after the game. As soon as the mouse came home, it was chased all over the world by the cat. . .

After the game, the dragon came to the seaside and saw that he was much more beautiful than before, so he didn't plan to return the chicken. In order to avoid the chicken, he disappeared into the world, and the chicken was angry, so he got up early every morning and shouted at the sea: Give it back quickly! Give it back! The hen shouted, give him back quickly! Give him back to me! The chicken also crows: Come back! And!

1, the origin of the zodiac

As an ancient folk cultural phenomenon, scholars have different opinions about the origin of the zodiac. Some people think that the zodiac and earthly branches are homologous and can be traced back to prehistoric legend times. In Historical Records, the Yellow Emperor's statements of "building Jiazi for life" and "making every effort to cure Jiazi" are the embodiment of this statement, and scholars believe that Jiazi here refers to the zodiac. Zhao Yi, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, believed that the zodiac originated from nomadic people in northern China. He said in "An Examination of Jade Cong": "At the beginning of the custom of covering the north, there was no ugliness on the 12th, but in the next year, it spread to China, and it was worthy of your ears." (See Zhao Yi's Textual Research on Jade Cong in Qing Dynasty). Some scholars even hold the view that the zodiac was introduced to China from Babylon, and Guo Moruo is the representative of this view. He said in "Study on Oracle Characters and Branch Interpretation", "Twelve elephants are found in Babylon, Egypt and India, but they are not very old, and none of them came from the Western Dynasty 100 years ago. The original intention is that this was made in the Western countries during the Han Dynasty, imitating the Babylonian zodiac and then spreading to the surrounding areas. " It is believed that the Chinese Zodiac was formulated by Middle Eastern residents imitating the Babylonian Zodiac, and was introduced to China when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty communicated with the western regions. The above viewpoints are different, so I dare not judge right or wrong subjectively. However, it is proved by a large number of documents that the Chinese zodiac really originated in China, and it is the crystallization of animal worship, totem worship and early astronomy of China ancestors.

The Book of Songs is the earliest record of the zodiac in the existing literature. There are eight words in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Jiri: "Jiri Wugeng means poor horse", which means it is a good day to ride a prancing horse and go hunting. This is an example of a horse in the afternoon. It can be seen that the corresponding relationship between earthly branches and twelve kinds of animals has been established and spread around the Spring and Autumn Period. 1975, the bamboo slips unearthed from TombNo. 1 1 in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, further prove that the zodiac existed around the Spring and Autumn Period. There is a chapter on "Thief" in the bamboo slips unearthed in Japan, which talks about the appearance characteristics of thieves, and records: "Son, mouse, thief wants his mouth, ... ugly, cow, thief with big nose and long neck, ... yin, tiger, thief, if he wants his beard, his face is black." Hair, rabbits, thieves are big. Chen, [the original leaked] the thief is a man, green and red ... already, insects are also, thieves grow black. Deer at noon, thieves have long necks and small necks? Q, his body is incomplete. ..... No, horse, thieves have ears. ",ring also, thief round face ..."

The zodiac recorded in Japanese books is roughly the same as the popular saying now. According to textual research, the tomb of Shuihudi 1 1 was in the 30th year of Qin Shihuang (2 17 BC), so the appearance of the zodiac can be traced back to at least the Spring and Autumn Period before Qin Dynasty. Scholars believe that this is the earliest and most systematic record of the zodiac found in China so far.

Today's popular zodiac is exactly the same as that recorded by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wang Chong's On the History of Wu Heng contains:

"Yin, wood, its bird, tiger. Soil, its birds and dogs are also. ..... At noon, the horse also arrived. Son, mouse, unitary, chicken. Hair, rabbits, too. ..... hey, tapir. No, so are sheep. Ugly, cattle also. ..... already, the snake also. Shen, Qitian also. "

In the above text, there are eleven kinds of animals in the zodiac, but the dragon is gone. The book Poison says:

"Chen is a dragon, a snake. Chen and Ji are in the southeast. "

In this way, the zodiac is complete, exactly the same as the popular zodiac. This is indeed the earliest and most complete record of the zodiac in ancient literature. .

By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the zodiac had been widely used, and it was clearly recorded in the Southern Dynasties' Five Elements Records of South Shu Qi that the zodiac was divided according to the year of birth. Shen Jiong, a poet in the Southern Dynasties, once wrote a poem about the zodiac, which said:

"In the case of mice and dust, cattle and sheep fall at dusk.

Tigers sit in empty valleys for food, and rabbits open windows to the moon.

The dragon ridge is far green, and the snake willow lingers near.

Ma Lanfang is far away and breeds sheep in spring.

The monkey chestnut shames the fragrant fruit, and the chicken anvil leads to a clear cup.

What happened to the dog? Leisure. "

This poem of the zodiac is obviously written in the order of animals assigned by the twelve branches, which shows that people at that time were already very familiar with the zodiac.

It is clear from the above documents that the origin of Zodiac culture is in China. According to the foreign zodiac, the zodiac was introduced to China from the Middle East in the Han Dynasty, which is similar to the introduction of Buddhism. From the above documents, we prove that there were records about the zodiac in China as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (The Book of Heaven and the Book of Songs), which shows that the appearance of the zodiac and the collocation of the zodiac and the earthly branches have been produced as early as the Han Dynasty, so it is certain that the zodiac originated from an ancient culture in China. So what is the origin of the zodiac? Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals? Scholars have been paying attention to this problem and making various explanations.

Some scholars believe that the zodiac originated from animal worship in primitive times, and Mr. Zhang Binglun of China University of Science and Technology holds this view. He believes that under the condition of low productivity and extremely limited ability to understand nature in primitive society, he has a sense of dependence on animals closely related to his life (such as horses, sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, etc.). ), the fear of animals that endanger his own safety (such as tigers and snakes), and the reverence for some animal organ functions that exceed human beings (such as dogs' sense of smell, etc.). ), which leads to the worship of animals. The zodiac is an animal calendar that people use to record the years and months under the influence of the primitive belief of animal worship.

The animal worship of primitive people is also manifested in primitive dances such as Nuo dance, which was produced around the Zhou Dynasty, and the protagonist in Nuo instrument is Fang and twelve beasts. Twelve kinds of animals are selected in Exorcism Dance, which is a manifestation of primitive people's reverence for animals. The twelve beasts (or the Twelve Gods) selected at the ceremony are to take care of the twelve months of the year, to drive away plagues and ghosts from all directions and to take care of the twelve directions for the safety of each month. Of course, the care of the twelve directions involves twelve branches, so it is linked with the zodiac, and the zodiac has been well used in the exorcism ceremony. It can be seen that the twelve animals and the zodiac are in the same strain, and their common source is primitive animal worship.

Mr. Liu Yaohan, a ethnologist, believes that the dates of the zodiac and the "Zodiac" are related to the "October Calendar" method of the Yi people. Yi people living in Daliangshan area of Sichuan have a calendar with twelve kinds of animals as the date of the year. They use twelve kinds of animals as the date of the year. Today is the Year of the Rat and tomorrow is the Year of the Ox. By analogy, three rounds is a month, 36 days, a month is 36 days, and a year is ten months. This is the later "October calendar" method. Mr. Liu Yaohan believes that the October calendar, which marks the dates according to the Chinese zodiac, came into being in the Xia and Yu Dynasties (see Liu Yaohan's Collection of Social and Historical Investigation of Yi People), which is related to the primitive totem worship. The zodiac was influenced by the October calendar, and the Yi zodiac calendar later developed into the zodiac.

When we talk about the origin of the zodiac, we must associate it with heavenly stems and earthly branches. The oldest existing branch table in China unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang in modern times shows that the date of branches in the Yin and Shang Dynasties has been mastered. Later, with the passage of time, the functions of the branches gradually diversified. As a label as a time unit, on the one hand, it is extended and used in chronology; On the one hand, it reduces the time (twelve hours a day). According to historical records and textual research, the zodiac appeared after the establishment of the "branch chronology" Twelve kinds of animals correspond to the twelve earthly branches one by one, and animals are the signs of earthly branches. People born in the same year all have their own animals, so twelve kinds of animals are used to date the year and calculate each person's zodiac. It can be seen that the zodiac and the twelve earthly branches are inseparable. For a long time, scholars have found that the ancient Chinese characters of the zodiac contain the information of the zodiac. They compared the ancient Chinese characters of the Chinese zodiac with those of the Chinese zodiac, and found that the ancient Chinese characters of the Chinese zodiac were related to twelve kinds of animals. Careful observation shows that there are some similarities and some differences. In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the word "Ji" was described as a pictographic character of a snake, as well as "Hai" and "tapir". People nearby have also verified that there are similarities between the characters of the earthly branches in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and the inscriptions on bronze inscriptions and the characters of the zodiac, which makes people wonder whether the zodiac is the pictographic characters of the animals of the zodiac. Because the ugly shade and ugly hair of the twelve earthly branches are easy to remember, people use twelve kinds of animals instead, and animals instead of ordinal symbols to match the earthly branches, which has become the symbol system of the year. Although the above conjecture has certain credibility, if you think about it carefully, you can still judge that the zodiac can't be pictographs of the zodiac, because as mentioned earlier, the zodiac was skillfully used in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, while the zodiac was only produced in the Spring and Autumn Period and came from different sources. If the earthly branches are related to the zodiac when creating characters, wouldn't the zodiac be produced at the same time as the earthly branches?

To sum up, the author thinks that the zodiac appeared later than the twelve earthly branches, but it is closely related to the twelve earthly branches. The zodiac is an appendage of the twelve earthly branches. Choosing twelve animals as symbols instead of the twelve earthly branches stems from the animal worship psychology of the ancients.

According to the characteristics of time and life of ancient animals in China, twelve animals are regarded as the zodiac, that is, each animal lasts for one hour. At the latest from the Han Dynasty, China began to use the twelve earthly branches to record twelve hours a day, and each hour is equivalent to three hours on both sides. Rats rank first, followed by cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

It is difficult to study the origin of the zodiac. For a long time, many people regard Lun Heng as the earliest document that records the zodiac. Lun Heng is the representative work of Wang Chong, a materialist thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "On the Balance of Things" contains: "Yin, wood, birds and tigers. Soil, its birds and dogs are also. ..... At noon, the horse also arrived. Son, mouse knife. Unitary, chicken also. Hair, rabbits, too. ..... hey, tapir. No, so are sheep. Ugly, cattle also. ..... Third, snakes are also. Shen, Qitian also. " There are only eleven zodiac signs in the above quotation, but the dragon is missing. The book "Poisonous Words" also said: "Chen Weilong, Si is a snake, and Chen and Si are in the southeast. In this way, the zodiac is complete, and the subordinate relationship between the twelve earthly branches and the zodiac is also so complete, just like today.

The birth of the zodiac has an astronomical background. In primitive times, our ancestors experienced a cycle of alternating cold and summer. Heaven and earth need the support of the earth, the sun and the moon are opposite, and heaven and earth are opposite, which is "twelve", and there are also various explanations of the zodiac and constellations.

A mouse and an ugly cow ... a dog and a pig. There are many animals in the world. Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals as the zodiac? There is a theory that the selection and arrangement of the zodiac is determined according to the daily activity time of animals.

Rat: From 1 1 in the evening to 1 the next day (that is, "midnight"). At this time, mice are the most courageous and active, so they are paired with mice to form the zodiac.

Bull: 65438+ 0-3 am (that is, "ugly time"). At this time, the cow has eaten enough grass, and the "backward chewing" is the thinnest, slowest and most comfortable, so the clown and the cow are matched into the zodiac.

Tiger: 3-5 am (that is, "Yin Shi"). According to ancient books, at this time, the tiger was the most active, fierce and hurtful, so Yin Shi and the tiger were paired into the zodiac.

Rabbit: 5-7 am (that is, "Shi Mao"). At this time, the sun has not yet appeared, and the glory of the moon has not completely retired. The Jade Rabbit is the representative of the moon and the only animal in the myth of the Moon Palace, so Shi Mao and the rabbit make up the zodiac.

Dragon: 7-9 am (that is, "Chen Shi"). Legend has it that this is when the dragon rains. The dragon is a mythical animal, so Chen is the zodiac of the dragon.

Snake: 9- 1 1 in the morning (that is, "Shi Si"). It is said that snakes at this time will not hurt people, will not wander on the road where people walk, and will hide in the grass, so they belong to the zodiac of snakes.

M: From 1 1 in the morning to 1 in the evening (that is, "noon"). The Taoist priest said that at noon, the sun was on the horizon, the yang was at its peak, and the yin was gradually flourishing. When yin and yang change columns, most animals lie down and rest. Only horses stand habitually and don't lie down even when they sleep. So noon belongs to the horse zodiac.

Sheep: 65438+ 0-3 pm (that is, "untimely"). It is said that sheep urinate most frequently at this time, and the spilled urine can cure a kind of madness, so it belongs to the year-end sheep zodiac.

Monkey: 3-5 pm (that is, "God Ten"). At this time, monkeys like to crow the most, and the sound is the longest and loudest. Therefore, Shen Shi belongs to the monkey zodiac.

Chicken: 5-7 pm (that is, "You's"). At this time, when the sun sets on the mountain, chickens begin to stay in cages for the night, so they belong to the rooster zodiac.

Dog: 7-9 pm (that is, "time"). When night comes, dogs watch the house and keep vigil, which produces a special kind of vision and hearing. They can see farthest and hear clearly. So, it's the dog zodiac.

Pig: 9- 1 1 pm (that is, "Shihai"). At this time, pigs sleep the most soundly, snore the loudest, shake their muscles the most and gain meat the fastest, so Shihai is a pig zodiac.

Why are there no cats in the zodiac?

It turns out that when the Chinese Zodiac came into being, cats (that is, today's domestic cats) had not yet joined the "China nationality".

China's chronology of branches is said to have originated in summer. There is no history to prove whether this legend is correct, but it will not be later than Shang at the latest, because it has been recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

From the perspective of biological evolution, the history of cats is longer than that of human beings, but before the Han Dynasty, there were only wild cats in China, that is, bobcats mentioned in the Book of Rites, and perhaps leopard cats with bears and tigers in the Book of Songs. Today, the domestic cat in China, according to the test, comes from Indian desert cat.

Indian cats entered China after Emperor Han Ming, because there were frequent exchanges between China and India through Buddhism. This is a thousand years away from the emergence of the chronology of cadres and branches.

Therefore, cats did not belong to the zodiac at that time.

There are also various legends about the arrangement of the zodiac. Such stories, like jokes, or fables, have strong literary elements. However, the seating arrangement of the zodiac is by no means a one-off event, nor can it be completed in one generation.

References:

Responder: The old demon is really clever. Level1level 4-7 10:47.

Because the Chinese zodiac made the cat drink too much the night before!

I didn't get up early the next day and was late. I missed it!

The mouse played a trick! With the help of the old cow, arrive with the old cow!

Because the old cow wanted to be the first, she threw the mouse from her back to the rear of the car. She didn't want the mouse to be bounced back by bamboo and ran in front of the old cow. Lucky first!

This is the story of the Chinese zodiac in the jigsaw puzzle!