What is the origin of the zodiac?

The genus is twelve kinds of animals. Because of the bumper harvest every year, twelve kinds of animals correspond to twelve earthly branches, namely rats, ugly cows, silver tigers, hairy rabbits, dragons, snakes, afternoon horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. There are three main theories about its origin.

The first view is that the zodiac is the product of the fusion of chronology of Huaxia and ethnic minorities in ancient China. According to historical records, before the Han Dynasty, there were only twelve branches of the Chinese nation in the Central Plains, and there was no method of chronology with animals. Ethnic minorities living in the north and west of China have been engaged in nomadic life for a long time and are used to using animals to refer to many things, so they have created a method of dating animals. Xiongnu has twelve zodiac signs. In history, the Tubo country established by Tibetan compatriots was also marked by the "12-year-old" animals, and the chronological method of Tibetan calendar still adopts the method of matching Jin Mu's fire, water, soil and twelve genera.

The second view is that the Chinese zodiac was created by the Chinese themselves. Influenced by the totem worship of ancient animals, some animal names are used to match the abstract twelve earthly branches. Some animals may also come from ancient astronomy. In ancient times, there were constellation names such as serpent, tokage and Pegasus, so they were used in the zodiac.

The third view is that it comes from India. Because India also has 12 genera, the arrangement is the same, the difference is that the third is the lion in India, and the tenth is the goldfinch in India. But tigers and lions are wild animals; Chickens and birds are birds, very similar.

According to historical records, the chronology of branches and leaves in China existed as early as the legendary Yao and Shun era, and the method of taking twelve kinds of animal branches and leaves as human genus was first seen in Wang Chong's Lun Heng: "The bird and mouse of the son, the beast and rabbit of the hair", which shows that it has a history of more than 2,000 years at most.

People can calculate their zodiac signs according to their earthly branches in the year of birth. If you and someone belong to the same genus, then the age difference between you and him is a multiple of 12.