What is the zodiac divided by?

It is divided according to the Spring Festival in the Chinese solar calendar. According to the periodic law of climate change in ancient China, a year was divided into 24 solar terms. Beginning of spring is the first of the 24 solar terms, so the ancient people celebrated the festival on the day of "beginning of spring", and the zodiac was determined based on beginning of spring, not the first day of the first month.

Every year when several bells ring in CCTV Spring Festival Evening, the host will say that the year of the zodiac has arrived, but it is all wet, so that the fallacy is repeated. This should start with China's calendar: there are at least two kinds of calendars in China, one is the solar calendar and the other is the lunar calendar.

Gregorian calendar is a calendar summed up by the laws of the sun. The year recorded in heavenly stems and earthly branches (also known as Liu Jia) is actually a Gregorian calendar. The most representative is the 24 solar terms, which accurately expresses the position of the sun on the earth's orbit (ecliptic) plane. The beginning of a year is the day when spring begins, with 24 solar terms! This is the real Spring Festival! Chronology of branches and branches can also accurately infer the exact dates of major events in history, which plays an important role in textual research and archaeology. Folk use this calendar to tell fortune and calculate auspicious days of the ecliptic.

Lunar calendar is a calendar based on the position of the moon relative to the earth, that is, the change of the moon's circle and circle, also known as lunar calendar. There is a big error between lunar year and solar year. In order to correct this mistake, the wise ancients set up runyue, so some lunar years have 13 months. People in China like to remember their birthdays by the lunar calendar, but in fact, this cycle of remembering years is very inaccurate.

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. Therefore, the zodiac should be unique in Liu Jianian, China, so the Year of the Rooster and the Year of the Dog should be counted from the date of beginning of spring.

Does that mean remembering the year and the time? The traditional timekeeping in China divides a day and night into 12 hours, which is also determined by the position of the sun. At noon, if the sun is at the same time as the current time 12, then it is noon from 1 13, so it is noon from 23: 00 to 13. That is to say, according to the calendar of China, our new day begins at 23: 00.

This year is the Year of the Pig, and next year is the Year of the Rat. The exact time for us to enter the Year of the Rat should be 23: 00 on the eve of beginning of spring. Of course, it should be beginning of spring time more accurately, but there will be some confusion, so the appointment is from 23: 00 to 1: 00, two hours is exactly one hour, and so on.