All the introductions of the zodiac?

China's zodiac animals are made up of eleven natural animals, namely, rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs and legendary dragons. Used to record the year, the order is mouse, ugly cow, silver tiger, hairy rabbit, dragon, snake, afternoon horse, sheep, monkey, chicken and sheep.

The origin of the zodiac

The use of 12 zodiac dates began in China at least in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. A letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother is recorded in the Biography of Northern History Yuwen Hu, which says: "Your brother was born in Wuchuan Town. The first one is a mouse, the second one is a rabbit, and you are a snake." Explain the folk usage of 12 zodiac at that time. However, what is the origin of the 12 zodiac? According to our ancient records, in the Central Plains of ancient China, the "branch chronology" was originally used, that is, 10 heavenly stems symbols (A, B, C, D, E, Ji, G, Xin, Ren, Gui) and 12 earthly branches symbols (Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao) "Book of the Tang Dynasty" records: "Twelve things in the Year of the Tiger, if the year is cloudy". In addition, the History of the Song Dynasty, The Biography of Tubo, also records that when the Tubo leaders narrate, they take events as a chronology. As the saying goes, "Twelve old things belong to Japan, the Year of the Rabbit and the Year of the Horse". Later, in the communication between the Central Plains and ethnic minorities, the two ways of dating contacted each other, forming the present 12 zodiac. As Zhao Yi pointed out in the Qing Dynasty's "Jade Cong Kao", "It doesn't matter whether there are ugly children in the early days of Gaibei custom, but it was spread in China in different years, so it didn't waste ears." This explanation about the origin of 12 zodiac has been recognized by many people. In addition, the story about the origin of 12 is as follows: Hong Xun's Miscellanies of Yanggu says that the odd-numbered earthly branches of 12 are also equipped with odd-numbered fingers or hooves of animals. If the child is in the first place, the matching mouse is 5 fingers, and if the ground branch is even, the name is even, such as cow, ugly and so on. Ye Shijie explained the origin of Cao Zhong 12 Zodiac as follows: the painter matched 12 with 12, and each Xiao had its own shortcomings, such as toothless mice, toothless cows, toothless tigers, toothless rabbits, toothless dragons, legless snakes, gutless horses, eyeless sheep and legless monkeys. There are other kinds of sayings. For example, the Yellow Emperor chose 12 animals to be on duty in the sky on time ... Through the competition, he selected 12 animals such as mice, cows and tigers. 12 Zodiac originated from the totem worship of some clans in primitive society, and was divided according to the strength of each tribe at a meeting; 12 Zodiac may have been introduced by Tianzhu; Or 28 stars are distributed in a week or so, and the value is 12 hours. Each star is named after an animal. Choose a common animal on duty every hour as an agent for a certain year, and so on. Although people can't determine the exact origin of the 12 zodiac, it has been used to this day because of its popularity, convenience and interest, and has become a valuable legacy with practical value left by the ancients.

Myths and legends

There is a myth about the origin of the zodiac: In those days, Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan chose twelve kinds of animals as court guards. The cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot. As a result, the cat didn't choose it, and since then, it has made enemies with the mouse. The elephant also came to the competition, and the mouse got into its nose and drove it away. The rest of the animals, originally headed by cows, were rushed to the backs of cows, and pigs also booed, so rats ranked first and pork chops ranked last. The tiger and the dragon refused to accept it, and were named king of mountains and sea, ranking behind rats and cows. The rabbit refused to accept it again, raced with the dragon and finally reached the dragon. The dog was unfair and bit the rabbit in a rage, so he was punished from the bottom. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens have also gone through some contests and arranged their positions one by one. Finally, the order of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs was formed.

Selective arrangement

The choice of the zodiac is not complicated, but it is close to the daily life and social life of the Han people, which can be guessed. Zodiac animals can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the "six animals" domesticated by human beings, namely cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs and chickens, which are domesticated by human beings for economic or other purposes, accounting for half of the Zodiac animals. "Six Livestock" is an important concept in China agricultural culture with a long history. In the traditional concept of China people, "Six Livestock Flourishing" represents the prosperity, auspiciousness and beauty of the family. During the Spring Festival, people usually talk about "the prosperity of six animals", so it is inevitable that these six animals will become the zodiac. The second category is well-known wild animals, which are closely related to people's daily and social life. They are tigers, rabbits, monkeys, rats and snakes, and some of them participate in human life with awe, such as tigers and snakes. There are also rodents that people hate and taboo, but they rely on human beings to survive; More people like it, such as rabbits and monkeys. The third category is the traditional symbolic mascot of China people-the dragon, which is a symbol of the Chinese nation, an "artifact" with many animal features, and a "spiritual thing" in people's imagination. Dragon represents wealth and good luck, and it is the most symbolic auspicious animal, so the position of dragon in the zodiac is indispensable.

Why are there no cats in the zodiac?

Chen Shuaifo believes that since ancient times, people have different opinions about why there are no cats in the zodiac, including the above story and the story of "Cats Catch Mice", but they all disagree. Why can't cats make the list? In fact, the real reason is that there were no cats in ancient China. Cats are native to Egypt, but it is unknown when cats were introduced to China. Folklore was brought back from India by Tang Sanzang. Now when it comes to why there are no cats in the zodiac, it is explained by folk stories. In fact, before cats were introduced to China, there were twelve zodiac signs in China. So it is not surprising that there are no cats in the zodiac. According to the classification of zoology, tigers belong to mammals, carnivores and cats. Tigers and cats are actually relatives of the family. With the tiger as the representative, cats are willing to masturbate without the trouble of "right to speak" in the "agreement" of the zodiac. As can be seen from the above, the choice of zodiac animals is not arbitrary, but has certain meanings. People choose animals from different angles, which has certain significance. So in what order are these twelve animals arranged? As mentioned earlier, the zodiac was born in the atmosphere of ancient animal worship and totem worship. People just use animals to borrow ordinal symbols to match the earthly branches. Why did you choose these twelve animals, who came first and in what order? There is no conclusion. Because the zodiac was born in ancient culture, people have lost the original intention of the arrangement because of its age. Today's legends and stories are only attached to it, and they can only rely on legends and imagination. There are three explanations about the arrangement of the zodiac.

The first is the arrangement of the zodiac in folklore stories.

Han folktale says: In those days, Huangdi in Xuanyuan wanted to choose twelve kinds of animals as court guards, and the cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot. As a result, the cat didn't choose it, and since then, it has made enemies with the mouse. The elephant also came to the competition, and the mouse got into its nose and drove it away. The rest of the animals, originally headed by cows, were rushed to the backs of cows, and pigs also booed, so rats ranked first and pork chops ranked last. The tiger and the dragon refused to accept it, and were named king of mountains and sea, ranking behind rats and cows. The rabbit refused to accept it again, raced with the dragon and finally reached the dragon. The dog was unfair and bit the rabbit in a rage, so he was punished from the bottom. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens have also gone through some contests and arranged their positions one by one. Finally, the order of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs was formed. Although the legendary story is not a scientific explanation of the problem, it embodies people's explanation of the choice of the zodiac.

The second is from the perspective of twelve o'clock in ancient times.

It was dark and chaotic. In the middle of the night, mice came out to move and turned the zodiac snake into an animal.

The chaotic state between them bites a gap, "the mouse bites the sky", so the child belongs to the mouse. When the sky opens, the land will be reclaimed. "This land will be saved from ugliness." Cows have to plow fields, so ugliness belongs to cows. Yin Shi is the time when a person is born. If he lives, he must die. Nothing can kill people more than a tiger. Yin has awe, so Yin belongs to a tiger. Shi Mao is like the sunrise, the sun should be separated from divination, which is like fire, and the yin contained in it is the moon's fine jade rabbit, so Shi Mao belongs to the rabbit. March is the rainy season. Chen Ziran belongs to the dragon. The divinatory symbols in April, at this moment, spring grass is flourishing, which is a good day for snakes, like a duck to water. Besides, it's morning, and the snake is returning to the cave, so it belongs to the snake. At noon and afternoon, the sun's spirit reaches its peak, and the yin is budding. A horse, an animal, gallops and flies with its hooves, but it tramples on the ground from time to time. The sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the horse jumps between yin and yang, so it becomes the zodiac at noon. Sheep, grazing in the afternoon is the best time, and it is easy to gain weight. This time is not timely, so it is not a sheep. Not after dressing, but when the monkey is crying near the western hills, and the monkey likes to stretch his arms and jump at this time, so the monkey is worth dressing. When the moon appears, it belongs to water, so it should be divination. The hexagrams are the upper and lower yin, and the middle yang represents the sun and the essence of the sun. That's why you are a chicken. When night falls, it's time. Dogs are vigil animals, and when they are with them, they become dogs. Then when the sea comes, heaven and earth are immersed in a state of chaos, just like a fruit wrapped in stones, and everything in the world is covered at night. Pigs are chaotic creatures that only know how to eat, so pigs have become the zodiac of Hai. Zhu, a famous Neo-Confucianist in Song Dynasty, holds this view.

Third, twelve kinds of animals are divided into yin and yang.

Animals generally have the same number of toes in front, back, left and right. Only mice have four feet in front and five feet in the back, even and odd. Things are rare, of course, they rank first, followed by cattle and four toes (even number); Tiger, five toes (odd number); Rabbit, four toes (even number); Dragon, five toes (odd number); Snakes, no toes (occasionally); Horse, one toe (odd number); Sheep, four toes (even number); Monkey, five toes (odd number); Chicken, four toes (even number); Dog, five toes (odd number); Pig, four toes (even number). This view was held by Hong Xun, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, and Lang Ying, an Amin scholar, classified it on this basis, and put forward "below the earthly branch" in his manuscript of the Seventh Revision of the Zodiac, so the number of toes should be treated differently. The mouse has four claws in front, even number is yin, hind foot is five claws, and odd number is yang. The first half of the child is the yin of last night, and the second half is the yang of today, just using mice to symbolize the child. The four claws of cattle, sheep, pig's trotters and chickens, plus the four claws of rabbits lacking lips and the tongue of snakes, should all be even, belonging to Yin, accounting for six. Tigers have five claws, monkeys and dogs have five claws, and horseshoes are round and undivided. All six are odd numbers, belonging to Yang, and together with the mice belonging to Yang, they occupy the other six branches. Lang Ying's classification is the flood borrowing classification, and the two are similar. The above three explanations explain the arrangement of the zodiac from different angles, and the folklore about the arrangement of animals in the zodiac is very rich. On the one hand, the spread of these legends enriches the content of the zodiac, on the other hand, it also promotes the inheritance and development of the zodiac culture. The zodiac is divided into two categories, Yin and Yang, which are incorporated into the concept of China people's belief in five elements. The purpose is to link the zodiac with life rituals, and to correspond the Yin-Yang and Five Elements with the zodiac, thus explaining other related life and cultural phenomena.

Lunar algorithm

China Gregorian calendar uses beginning of spring to determine the zodiac. The "lunar calendar" is the lunar calendar that began to be used in the Han Dynasty. The New Year is bounded by beginning of spring, beginning of spring is the first of the 24 solar terms, and the zodiac is based on beginning of spring. There are 10 stems and 12 earthly branches in the middle of Liujiaji, that is, Zichou Yin Mao and Tatsumi Shen You Xu Hai at noon. From Jiazi, Picnic, Bingyin, Ding Mao ... Only 60 lines complete a cycle. This is a bit complicated and hard to remember, so the ancients thought of using animals to represent complex earthly branches, that is, the zodiac. Rats, ugly cows, silver tigers, hairy rabbits, dragons, snakes, afternoon horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and porcupines. The zodiac is unique in Liu Jianian, China, and it should be counted from beginning of spring. Traditional folklore, such as numerology and divination, all use "beginning of spring" as the basis for calculating the zodiac! Including the current folk astrology divination, Mr. Divination has always followed the traditional zodiac method. Because the zodiac is the same as the earthly branch, it can't be determined by the current Spring Festival. The traditional Spring Festival refers to the beginning of spring, and the first day of the first month is the New Year. In the first year of the Republic of China (19 1 1), the Gregorian calendar 1 is the Spring Festival. Due to opposition from the people, Yuan Shikai adopted a compromise method and named the Gregorian calendar 1 as New Year's Day.

Controversy about the Zodiac Algorithm

Some people decide the zodiac directly according to the Spring Festival for convenience, so the tradition is gradually forgotten by many people, and the definition of the zodiac is controversial. There are even folklore scholars who claim that the zodiac should be set according to the Spring Festival, but they can't find the basis, just speculating that "it should be set according to the Spring Festival" or "for convenience"; But many folklore scholars who support the beginning of spring Zodiac can find the traditional basis. According to the questionnaire, the number of people who use the tradition of setting the zodiac in beginning of spring and forget it is 50/50. Of course, if you happen to be born on a "controversial" date, you can also decide according to your personal preference.

meaning

(1) The Chinese zodiac signs are contradictory to each other, and the six divisions in the wheel of karma have condensed all the expectations and demands of our ancestors for China. The first group: rats and cows. Rats represent wisdom and cows represent diligence. The two must be closely combined. Only wisdom without diligence will become wisdom, and diligence will become stupidity. So the two must be combined. This is the first set of expectations and requirements of our ancestors for China people, and it is also the most important set. The second group: tigers and rabbits. Tigers represent courage, rabbits represent caution. The two must be closely combined to achieve the so-called boldness and caution. Courage without caution becomes recklessness, and blind caution becomes timidity. This group is also very important, so it is placed in the second place. The third group is the dragon snake. The dragon represents tenacity, and the snake represents flexibility. The so-called rigid is easy to fold, too rigid is easy to break; Too soft is easy to be weak, too soft is easy to lose your mind, so combining rigidity with softness is our ancestral motto. The fourth group is horses and sheep. Horses represent indomitable spirit and strive for goals, while sheep represent unity and harmony. The Chinese nation is a big family, and we need a united and harmonious internal environment. Only by collective harmony can we free our hands to pursue our respective ideals. If a person only cares about his own interests and does not pay attention to unity and harmony, he is doomed to be lonely. Therefore, individual efforts and collective harmony must be closely combined. The fifth group is monkeys and chickens. Monkeys represent flexibility, and chickens crow regularly, representing constancy. Flexibility and constancy must be closely combined. If you are flexible and not static, no matter how good the policy is, you will not get anything in the end. But if you just stay the same, stagnate and be monolithic, there will be no reform and opening up today. There is only a very harmonious combination between them. On the one hand, it has stability and maintains the overall harmony and order, on the other hand, it can continue to develop flexibly. Finally, dogs and pigs. Dogs represent loyalty and pigs represent easygoing. If a person is too loyal and doesn't know how to be easy-going, he will exclude others. On the other hand, if a person is too easy-going and has no loyalty, he will lose his principles. Therefore, whether it is loyalty to a nation-state, loyalty to a team, or loyalty to one's own ideals, it must be closely combined with easygoing, so that it is easy to truly maintain deep loyalty. This is what we in China have always insisted, that a gentleman is harmonious but different. Everyone in China has his own zodiac sign. Some people are pigs, others are dogs. What's the point? In fact, our ancestors expected us to be harmonious and impartial, and asked us to know how to cut into the corresponding surface. For example, pigs can pursue loyalty in an easy-going nature; On the other hand, the loyal nature of dogs is easygoing.

Zodiac characteristics

Characteristics and Disadvantages of China Zodiac

Rat: attraction, social skills, influence, intelligence, frugality, charm, tension, power desire, wordiness, cunning, greed, intervention.

Cattle: integrity, innovation, purposefulness, diligence, stability, good words, stubbornness, indifference, prejudice, dullness and revenge.

Tiger: Enthusiasm, good luck, courage, charity, charm, authority, impulsiveness, boasting, irritability, indulgence, disobedience and drifting with the flow. Rabbit: wit, cleanliness, caution, skill, longevity, virtue, secrecy, amateur, too formal, melancholy, self-show, kindness, hope,

Dragon: strength, enthusiasm, success, courage, health, passion, rigidity, confusion, distrust, boasting and dissatisfaction.

Snakes: intuition, wisdom, attraction, vigilance, caution, sympathy, cover-up, greed, luxury, arrogance, laziness and narcissism.

Ma: Persuasiveness, fashion, autonomy, sensitivity, popularity, achievement, selfishness, haste, arrogance, impatience, resistance and conceit.

Sheep: invention, whimsy, sensitivity, courtesy, perseverance, taste, attachment, pessimism, lack of foresight, unreality, dullness and anxiety.

Monkeys: improvisation, leadership, wit, intelligence, stability, loyalty, cunning, self-confidence, trickery, stupidity, rap and speculation. Chicken: flexible, conservative, enthusiastic, beautiful, frank, humorous, arrogant, boastful, idolatrous and dissolute.

Dogs: persistent, responsible, brave, intelligent, respectable, moral, uneasy, sarcastic, critical, unsociable, self-righteous and smooth.

Pig: Cautious, cheerful, brave, educated, sincere, honest, credulous, materialistic, angry, hesitant and stupid.

Constellation pairing

Rats: Yulong, monkey and cow are lucky, but they are not as good as sheep, horses, rabbits and chickens, and other animals are second.

Cow: When it comes to rats, snakes and chickens, dragons, horses, sheep, dogs and rabbits are not as good as any other animals.

Tiger: When it comes to horses and dogs, you can't compare with snakes and monkeys. Other animals are inferior.

Rabbit: When it comes to sheep, dogs and pigs, it can't be compared with rats, cows, dragons, chickens and horses, followed by other animals.

Dragon: When it comes to mice, monkeys, chickens, dogs, cows, dragons and rabbits, all other animals are inferior.

Snakes: When it comes to cows, chickens and horses, they can't be compared with tigers, monkeys and pigs. Other animals settle for second best.

Horse: When it comes to snakes, sheep and dogs, they can't be compared with rats, cows, rabbits and horses, followed by other animals.

Sheep: When it comes to rabbits, horses and pigs, they can't be compared with rats, cows and dogs. Other animals settle for second best.

Monkey: You will be lucky to meet mice, but you are not worthy of tigers, snakes and pigs. Other animals are second.

Chicken: When it comes to cows, dragons, snakes, rabbits, chickens and dogs, all other animals are inferior.

Dog: When it comes to tigers, rabbits and horses, we can't compare them with cows, dragons, sheep and chickens. Other animals settle for second best.

Pig: When it comes to sheep and rabbits, you can't compare them with snakes, pigs and monkeys. Other animals settle for second best.