Why are there no cats in the zodiac?

Although the cat is one of the Ba Shen in La Worship, which is deeply loved by people, there is no cat in the long-standing zodiac. It can be seen that when the Chinese Zodiac came into being, domestic cats had not really settled in China.

According to relevant data, domestic cats in China originated from Indian desert cats, and Indian cats entered China after Emperor Han Ming, because there were frequent exchanges between China and India through Buddhism.

According to documents, the zodiac first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was already circulated in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

It can be seen that the Chinese zodiac animals existed as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, which shows that before the Western Zhou Dynasty, people usually saw only large, fierce and untamed wild cats, rather than domestic cats raised by people now. Therefore, it seems reasonable that there are dogs and mice in the zodiac, but no cats.

There are many legends about the absence of cats in the zodiac. The most popular story is that a cat and a mouse become enemies. Here is a short description for you to enjoy:

It is said that at the beginning of chaos, the Jade Emperor summoned animals from all over the world by decree, and selected twelve kinds of animals according to the twelve zodiac signs of heavenly stems and earthly branches (namely, Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, E and Hai). The news alarmed the two good friends, cat and mouse, and they decided to take part in the election together. The cat said to the mouse, "I have a problem with sleepiness." Please call me when I go to heaven tomorrow morning. " The mouse promised, "I'll call you if there is any problem." On the third morning, the mouse broke his promise, got up secretly and left without saying goodbye.

Many animals gathered in the soul hall, ready to be selected. According to the difference between heaven and earth, the five emperors chose twelve animals as their zodiac signs: dragon, tiger, ox, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rabbit, snake and mouse. When the jade emperor was ready to arrange seating, the pig tricked the jade emperor into trusting him with sweet words, and the jade emperor gave the pig the task of arranging seating.

As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the zodiac began to argue about the order, especially when the scheming rats and cows competed for the size, they tricked Niu Niu into "listening to people's comments".

As a result, the bull and mouse came to the busy street. When the bull passed through the crowd, people noticed them. At this time, the mouse suddenly climbed on the back of the cow and stood on the corner of the cow, which aroused people's amazement: "What a big mouse!" " ……

When the mouse came back, he boasted, and his relatives were not convinced. Only the pig was secretly happy.

It believes that only in this way, the big and the small, the good and the bad are difficult to distinguish, and the fish can be mixed and the profits can be made. As a result, pigs ranked mice first and yellow steak second. That is, rats, ugly cows and silver tigers. ...

When the mouse came home, he was so happy that he woke up the sleeping cat. The cat asked, "Is it time?" ? "The mouse said proudly," It's too early. We won the first prize! " Jing boasted to the cat. The cat said angrily, "I told you again and again, why didn't you call me?" The mouse said brazenly, "Do your own thing. If I ask you to go, you can go instead of me!" " ! Hearing this, the cat's beard bristled with anger, its eyes widened, its claws opened, and it pounced on it in one step and ate the mouse.

From then on, the good friends of mouse and cat turned against each other and became enemies for generations. Cats have no place in the zodiac.