What is the legend of the zodiac of ethnic minorities?

In China, a multi-ethnic country, the zodiac is not a patent of the Han nationality, and many ethnic minorities use the zodiac calendar. First of all, let's take a look at the comparison table of zodiac signs of various ethnic groups.

Cross-reference table of Chinese zodiac of all ethnic groups

Yi nationality in western Guangxi

Zodiac: dragon, phoenix, horse, ant, human, chicken, dog, pig, sparrow, cow, tiger and snake.

Ailaoshan Yi nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: tiger, rabbit, pangolin, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, mouse and cow.

Yi people in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou

Twelve kinds of animals: rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

Hainan Li nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: chickens, dogs, pigs, rats, cows, insects, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep and monkeys.

Yunnan Dai nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, snakes, snakes, horses, goats, monkeys, chickens, dogs and elephants.

Guangxi Zhuang nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

the Mongol nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, mouse and cow.

Xinjiang Uygur nationality

Twelve kinds of animals: rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, fish, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

Kyrgyz

Twelve kinds of animals: rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, fish, snakes, horses, sheep, foxes, chickens, dogs and pigs.

As can be seen from the above table, many ethnic minorities in China, such as Mongolian, Zhuang and some Yi people, are all influenced by the Han nationality, basically the same as the Han nationality. However, some ethnic groups have undergone some variations while accepting the China Zodiac culture. In the Zodiac series, Yi compatriots in Ailao Mountain occupy the dragon position with pangolins. In Xinjiang Kirgiz Zodiac, fish On Behalf Oflong and fox are used instead of monkeys. Compatriots of Li nationality in Hainan mark the date with the zodiac, starting with the chicken and ending with the monkey. Dai people living in Xishuangbanna use yellow cattle instead of yellow cattle and goats instead of sheep. The sea is not a pig, but an elephant. From the above changes, it can be seen that when choosing zodiac animals, due to different living environments and different species, all ethnic groups choose the closest animal as the zodiac animal, which brings certain differences to the zodiac culture. In addition to the variation in the selection of animals in the zodiac, ethnic minorities have also formed their own different methods of marking the year, month and day, and there have also been many folk customs related to the zodiac.

(1) Liangshan Yi zodiac

Yi people generally use the zodiac calendar, also known as the zodiac calendar. Both the ancient epic Le Aoteyi and the Yi people have legends about the origin of the Yi zodiac (see Wang Changfu's Liangshan Yi Customs). The Yi people living in Liangshan, Sichuan are marked by rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. The name of each animal has a period of one year, * * * 12 years. There is a convenient formula for calculating age: "One round of thirteen, two rounds of twenty-five, three rounds of thirty-seven, four rounds of forty-nine, five rounds of sixty-one, six rounds of seventy-three ..." and so on. The calendar of Liangshan Yi people also adopts the twelve zodiac signs, namely, rat month, ox month, tiger month, rabbit month, dragon month, snake month, horse month, sheep month, monkey month, chicken month, dog month and pig month. Every month, there are 30 days in the big month and 29 days in the small month. The big moon and the small moon are determined according to whether the moon was 15 or 16 last month. Xiaoyue 15 circle is 29 days, and Dayue 16 circle is 30 days. However, the first month used in different places is different. In some places, horse month is the first month, in some places, sheep month is the first month, and in some places, monkey month is the first month. The method of marking the date also adopts the Chinese zodiac, and the twelfth day is a round, which is not limited by the year and month (including leap month) and can be pushed back indefinitely and never terminated.

Yi people's zodiac calendar has also been applied to folk witchcraft. Liangshan Yi people believe that people are closely related to the five elements of wood, fire, earth, iron and water, and people can only live in harmony with them, which is a natural destiny. Man's destiny lies in the harmony among ten fates formed by the combination of the five elements with men and women, namely, Mugong, Mu Mu, Huogong, Tugong, Tiemu, Shuigong and Jellyfish. In addition, ten kinds of destinies are matched with twelve genera to form a "chronology", and the 60-year chronology is used to count people's destinies.

The Chinese zodiac of the Yi people is also used for marriage. When choosing a spouse and getting engaged, the Yi people attach great importance to the conditions such as nationality and rank. In addition, it is also important whether the birthdays of men and women coincide. The folk formula is: "Rabbits, pigs and sheep follow, cows, snakes and chickens follow, dogs are sloppy, and monkeys, dragons and rats are in harmony." Everything that conforms to the above formula is consistent, but it is not very strict. People who belong to tigers are most afraid of people who belong to chickens and sheep, fearing that "tigers eat chickens and eat sheep."

(2) wearing a zodiac sign

According to Mr. Zhang, the timing method of the Han nationality was gradually introduced into the Dai area in the Han Dynasty, and it has been used ever since (see Zhang Zhu's Dai Culture, published by Jilin Education Press 1986). ) is still an important part of the Dai calendar. The method is the same as the lunar calendar, that is, the ten-day trunk and the twelve earthly branches cooperate with each other to get sixty jiazi, and sixty numbers are used to mark the year and day, while the twelve earthly branches are used to mark the month separately. Shortly after the trunk branches were introduced into the Dai area, the Chinese zodiac signs of the Han nationality were also introduced. The zodiac signs in Dai area are slightly different, Dehong area is exactly the same as Han nationality, while Xishuangbanna changed the name of pig to elephant and the name of dragon to serpent or jiaozi, which is slightly different. The twelve zodiac signs used by Dai people are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, snake, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and elephant.

In Xishuangbanna and other places, the zodiac signs are matched with earthly branches to record not only the year, but also the month and day. For example, in the Dai calendar, "bone" is the year, "blood" is the month, and "skin" is the day. 〕 ZW 〕, ugly year ox bone, cloudy year tiger bone; April rabbit blood, June snake blood, July horse blood; Monkey skin, chicken skin and so on. It can be seen that after being absorbed into the Dai calendar, the zodiac is more widely used in the Han calendar than in the lunar calendar.

(3) Tibetan Zodiac

Traditionally, the chronology of the Tibetan zodiac was brought by Songzan Gambu, who married Princess Wencheng in the Tang Dynasty, in the 7th century. The Tibetan zodiac is 60 years old, and it is called "Deng Hui" in Tibetan, which means wooden mouse. The Tibetan 60-year-old starts from the year of the wooden mouse, which is equivalent to the year of Jiazi of the Han nationality. The Tibetan zodiac is characterized by the combination of yin and yang and the five elements of Xiao and beast, so it is called the Year of the Rabbit with Yin Fire, the Year of the Monkey with Yang Soil and the Year of the Monkey with Yang Gold.

There is a corresponding relationship between the chronology of the zodiac in Tibetan calendar and the five elements of Yin and Yang: A and B are wood, Ding is fire, E is earth, Geng Xin is gold, and Gui Ren is water. In each of the above five pairs, the former is Yang and the latter is Yin. Although heavenly stems and earthly branches is not clearly marked in Tibetan calendar, it implies the order of branches. In addition, men and women are used instead of yin and yang in the Tibetan calendar. For example, the year of Yin Taurus is also called the year of female Taurus, and the year of Yang Shuihu is also called the year of male Shuihu.

(4) Naxi Zodiac

Naxi nationality is a minority living in Yunnan province and a branch of the ancient Qiang nationality. Naxi people also use the zodiac to mark the day, which has a unique method and orientation. They divide the twelve months of the year into a big month and a small month, and each month has 30 days. The first day of each month is the Year of the Monkey, and the order of monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs, rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses and sheep is the 29th day of each month. Entering bimonthly, the first day of bimonthly is separated by ox day, which is designated as tiger day, and then arranged in the order of tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse and sheep, and the last day of bimonthly is designated as sheep day; Then enter a single month. The first day of a single month should be the Year of the Monkey, which happens to be the Year of the Monkey after the Day of the Sheep. There is no need to jump the zodiac every other day. ? Naxi people pay attention to the choice of spouse and the naming of Tian characters, especially their naming method has the meaning of the zodiac.