Chinese and Western Constellation Culture _ Chinese and Western Constellation Culture

Starting with the meaning of the Chinese zodiac and the western zodiac, this paper analyzes the differences between Chinese and western cultural value systems.

In Chinese and western cultures, due to different traditions, the ancients used different methods of punctuality. This paper introduces the origin, cultural connotation and differences between the China Zodiac and the western constellations. 1 Introduction In the second semester of 2007-2008, because my wife went out for further study, my two-year-old child was left to my old father and me. But the little guy is always disobedient. When I was not at home, he played well with my old father. But as soon as I got home, the little guy couldn't get along with me. He always cries or insists, which makes me have a bad rest. If I don't behave as he intended, he will cry. As the saying goes, "a child cries three times when he sees his mother." But I'm his father. Do I have to cry three times when I see my father? My father said that maybe the zodiac of the little guy didn't suit me, and advised me to find a Mr. Land to set a time for him, and then find him an "old godfather". Walking that night, I happened to meet Peter, a foreign teacher in our school. I told him that my son wanted to find an "old godfather". He said, "Oh, you China people have so many interesting traditions. In our culture, there is no such thing. " You China people have so many interesting traditions, but in our culture, we don't have such things. Then I talked to him about the Chinese zodiac in our country. He said that there is no such zodiac sign in their cultural tradition, but there are similar constellations, so I asked him something about it and wrote it down. By sorting out relevant papers and consulting relevant literature, it is found that Chinese people have done relevant research in this regard. Moran [1] explains the meaning of China's zodiac signs in pairs, Emily and Xin Shi [2] introduce Chinese and foreign zodiac signs, and Xu [3] arranges the English translation of China's zodiac signs and foreign constellations. However, the above research did not fully discuss the origin of the zodiac and the constellation, the connotation of punctuality culture, and related aspects. This paper mainly combs and compares the above aspects in order to have a complete understanding of China Zodiac and foreign constellations. 2 Origin of Zodiac and Constellation 2. 1 The origin of Zodiac is in China. It is difficult to verify the origin of the zodiac today. For a long time, many people regard Lun Heng written by Wang Chong, a materialist thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty, as the earliest document to record the zodiac. According to "On the Balance of Things", "Yin, wood, birds and tigers. Soil, its birds and dogs are also. ..... At noon, the horse also arrived. Son, mouse knife. Unitary, chicken also. Mao, rabbit also ... Hai, tapir also. No, so are sheep. Ugly, cattle are also. ..... Third, snakes are also. Shen, Qitian also. " There are only eleven zodiac signs in the above quotation, but the dragon is missing. The "poison words" in the book also say: "Chen Weilong, Sri Lanka is a snake, and Chen and Sri Lanka are in the southeast. In this way, the zodiac is complete, and the subordinate relationship between the twelve earthly branches and the zodiac is so complete, just like today [4]. Why does the zodiac bring twelve again? According to the introduction in China Lunar Network [5], this is related to the punctuality of the ancients, and relevant evidence can be found in some related documents: For example, Feng Zai said, "The palm of ten is two years old, the palm of ten is two years old, the palm of ten is two days old, and the palm of ten is twenty-eight stars to distinguish its narrative and meet the sky. "It roughly means that time is divided into twelve years, twelve months a year and twelve o'clock a day." "Mandarin Yu Jin Si" contains: "The Yellow Emperor has twenty-five sons and fourteen sons have surnames, making a total of twelve surnames. "Even the sons of heaven's wives and concubines have the saying of" twelve women ","The Biography of Xun Shuang in the Later Han Dynasty ":"Therefore, the sons of heaven marry twelve women, and the number of days is also; There is an equal difference below the vassal, and things have fallen. "The above records can show that the ancients completely matched the twelve earthly branches with the zodiac by summing up the running time of natural laws, rather than taking a random number and calculating the time with twelve numbers. There is another argument about the origin of the zodiac, which is worth considering in this paper, that is, the origin of the zodiac is related to the totem of the ancients. Totem is a primitive superstition that animals or natural things are related to the clan, so it is used as the emblem or symbol of the clan. The proverb "When a mouse crosses the street, everyone shouts" shows that people generally have an aversion to mice. However, in ancient times, many clans and tribes thought that their ancestors were mice and were proud of being descendants of mice. They painted and carved the image of mice, and sacrificed for a long time in ceremonies or programs to pray for the protection of their ancestors [6]. The phenomenon that the ancients worshipped an animal as their ancestors also exists from time to time in today's reality. Naxi people regard cows as the beasts of creation in ancient times. In the Genesis of Dongba Sutra of Naxi nationality, this magical cow hatched from a giant egg in the sea was described, which broke through the ground with its horns and hooves, causing the earth to shake. It was killed by Seven Sisters, the ancestor of Naxi nationality and the seventh brother of Kaidi, who sacrificed ox heads to heaven, cowhide, meat, earth, bone, stone, tendon, mountain, blood, sun, liver and moon. In this way, there will be a clear and bright sky, the sun and the moon, and a quiet world where everything grows. Since then, cows have been used as sacred objects for sacrifice and offered as sacrifices to mountains and rivers [7]. Naxi people worship the cow god very much. Now, if you travel to Lijiang, Yunnan, you will see totem wood carvings carved by their ancestors' cows in some wood carving shops. Another example is the White Chicken in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Legend has it that their ancestors hatched from the eggs of Golden Flower Chicken. It is believed that a rooster knows good luck or bad luck, can ward off evil spirits and will bless the whole family. Therefore, when the chickens migrate, they will put things in the back basket, and usually put a rooster on it. After arriving in the newly moved area, the rooster will first settle down where it crows. In the view of the chicken clan, the place where the rooster crows first is the most auspicious place. There are still many legends about the origin of the zodiac and the totem of the ancients. There is limited space here, so I won't expand them one by one. 2.2 The Origin of Constellations There is a relatively unified statement about the origin of constellations in many documents [8]: Constellations originated in Babylon, one of the four ancient civilizations. The Babylonians divided the sky into many regions and called them "constellations", but at that time constellations were of little use and were rarely discovered and named. The constellation 12 on the ecliptic was originally used to measure time, not to express people's character as it is now. Around 1000 BC, 30 constellations have been proposed. The Tigris River and the Euphrates River flow into the Persian Gulf from northwest to southeast, so it is also called the "two river basin" area. After the culture of the two river basins spread to ancient Greece, it promoted the cultural development of ancient Greece. Ancient Greek astronomers supplemented and developed the Babylonian constellation and compiled the ancient Greek constellation table. In the 2nd century A.D., Ptolemy, an ancient Greek astronomer, synthesized the astronomical achievements at that time and sorted out 48 constellations. Connect the main bright stars in the constellation with imaginary lines, imagine them as images of animals or characters, and give them appropriate names in combination with fairy tales. This is the origin of the constellation name. [9] After the Middle Ages, the rise of European capitalism needed to expand outward, and the maritime industry was greatly developed. Ships sailing at sea need navigation at any time, and stars are the best street lamps. Among the stars, this constellation has a special shape and is the easiest to observe. Therefore, constellations have aroused widespread concern. When Magellan sailed around the world in the16th century, he not only used constellations to navigate and orient, but also studied constellations. [10] 1922, the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided to divide the sky into 88 constellations, and their names basically followed the historical names. 1928, the international astronomical union officially announced the names of 88 constellations. These 88 constellations are divided into three celestial regions, 29 in the northern hemisphere, 47 in the southern hemisphere, and near the equator and ecliptic 12. [1 1] At present, the commonly used constellations are 12 constellations near the celestial equator and the ecliptic. Comparison of punctuality between the horoscope and the zodiac: In terms of punctuality, the zodiac is usually matched with the earthly branch in China, and it is also usually matched with the heavenly stem when it is used to record the year, which is called the earthly branch to keep the year. There are some differences between zodiac signs and constellations. In China, the time of the Zodiac-Dizhi can be accurately recorded. The ancients divided a day into 12 hours, which is equivalent to two hours now. However, foreign constellations are not so accurate. The appearance and duration of a constellation is usually about one month in a row, and there is usually no need to record the year. The cadres in Tianhe and China can remember the years, months, days and hours. China's chronology of Zodiac-Earthly Branches is compared with that of foreign constellations as follows: The chronology of earthly branches corresponds to the following time: (1) In terms of chronology, each branch is a year, and after 60 branches (commonly known as "60 Jia Zi"), it starts from the beginning and goes on and on. Some people also linked the heavenly stems and earthly branches with figures through calculation, and formed a simple method for dating the trunk and branch. The method is as follows [1 2]: a. First, code the Rhizoma Drynariae: A, B, C, D, E, G, Xin, nonyl, decyl 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,1,2, 3 are the last digits in the year after A.D.. For example, in 2003, it was very dry. For example, the last digit of the Xin You coup (186 1), the Xin Chou Treaty (190 1) and the Xinhai Revolution (19 1 1) is "1" The ground branches of code B: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 1, 0. 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