Does the zodiac begin in beginning of spring or the Spring Festival?

The zodiac is the zodiac, also known as the zodiac. That is, twelve kinds of animals in China are matched with the twelve earthly branches according to their birth years, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. The story about the zodiac is like this: "Xuanyuan Huangdi wants to choose the zodiac as a palace guard, and the cat lets the mouse sign up." As a result, the mouse forgot, and the cat took revenge on the mouse from then on.

Originally, the cow pushed first, and the mouse sneaked up the cow's back and took the lead. Not convinced, the tiger and dragon were named as mountain gods and sea gods, ranking behind cattle. The rabbit refused to accept it and wanted to race the dragon. The rabbit ran in front of the dragon. The dog was so angry that he didn't want to bite the rabbit that he was finally punished. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens also went through some contests, and finally pigs came to occupy the last position.