Zodiac of Ganzhi calendar

The Origin of the Zodiac and Its Relationship with Earthly Branches

The Book of Songs is the earliest record of the zodiac in the existing literature. There are eight words in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Jiri: "Jiri Wugeng means poor horse", which means it is a good day to ride a prancing horse and go hunting. This is an example of a horse in the afternoon. It can be seen that the corresponding relationship between earthly branches and twelve kinds of animals has been established and spread around the Spring and Autumn Period.

The bamboo slips 1975 unearthed from tomb1in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, further proved that the zodiac had existed before and after the Spring and Autumn Period. There is a chapter on "Thief" in the bamboo slips unearthed in Japan, which talks about the appearance characteristics of thieves, and records: "Son, mouse, thief wants his mouth, ... ugly, cow, thief with big nose and long neck, ... yin, tiger, thief, if he wants his beard, his face is black." Hair, rabbits, thieves are big. Chen, [the original leak] the thief is a man, green and red ... already, insects are also, thieves grow black. At noon, the deer is also a thief with a long neck and a small cut. ..... No, horse, thieves have ears. Shen zhe, Huan ye, thief is round ... "The zodiac recorded in Japanese books is roughly similar to the popular saying now. According to textual research, the tomb of Shuihudi 1 1 was in the 30th year of Qin Shihuang (2 17 BC), so the appearance of the zodiac can be traced back to at least the Spring and Autumn Period before Qin Dynasty. Scholars believe that this is the earliest and most systematic record of the zodiac found in China so far.

Exactly the same as the popular zodiac signs today is Wang Chong's On the Balance of Things in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Yin, wood, its birds and tigers." Soil, its birds and dogs are also. ..... At noon, the horse also arrived. ..... already, the snake also. Shen, Qi Tian also. "In the above text, there are eleven kinds of animals in the zodiac, but the dragon is missing. The book "Poisonous Words" says: "Chen is a dragon and has become a snake. Chen and Ji are in the southeast. "In this way, the zodiac is complete, and it is exactly the same as the popular zodiac. This is indeed the earliest and most complete record of the zodiac in ancient literature.

By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the zodiac had been widely used. In the Five Elements Annals of the Southern Southern Southern Dynasties, the narrators at that time often referred to people's animal signs, such as "Dong Hunhou is a pig" and "Cui is a horse". In the Biography of Yuwen Hu's Northern History, a letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother was recorded, which wrote: "Your brother was born in Wuchuan Town. The first one was a mouse, the second one was a rabbit, and you were a snake." Shen Jiong, a poet in the Southern Dynasties, once wrote a poem about the zodiac:

In the case of mice and dust, cattle and sheep came down at dusk.

Tigers sit in empty valleys for food, and rabbits open windows to the moon.

The dragon ridge is far green, and the snake willow lingers near.

Ma Lanfang is far away and breeds sheep in spring.

The monkey chestnut shames the fragrant fruit, and the chicken anvil leads to a clear cup.

Dogs have their own business, but the windows of pigs are leisurely.

This poem of the zodiac is obviously written in the order of animals assigned by the twelve branches, which shows that people at that time were already very familiar with the zodiac.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was said that Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was keen on cockfighting because he was a chicken. Since the Song Dynasty, people have further linked the zodiac with a person's fate in their minds, forming many taboos about the zodiac. When Huizong dogs were in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was forbidden to kill dogs in the world. Too many students once asked angrily, "Emperor Zongshen (Hui Zong's father) was born in the year of Wuzi, and Xiao Sheng was a mouse. Why couldn't you help keeping a cat at that time? " Emperor Renzong of the Yuan Dynasty, because he was a chicken, also issued a ban on mentioning chickens inside and outside the capital (Beijing). Ming Wuzong was a pig. In the 14th year of Zheng De's reign (A.D. 15 19), the national "livestock pigs" were banned, and the offenders were expelled from the army, so that when the royal family of Qingming prepared to offer three sacrifices to their ancestors the following year, they could not find a pig.

The taboo of the zodiac is also manifested in marriage, which is caused by the concept that the five elements are mutually reinforcing. Where there is a marriage, we must first approve the "eight characters" to see if the two collide. As a result, there has even been a "pig can't reach the end, and the white horse is afraid of the green cow; Golden roosters are afraid of jade dogs, and dragons and rabbits exchange tears; When a snake and a tiger make a mistake, a sheep and a mouse will stop "and". In ancient times, when a white horse made a mistake, when a sheep and a mouse passed, they watched the snake as a mistake, and the rabbit Yulong exchanged tears; Golden roosters and jade dogs don't meet, and pigs are never afraid of apes. The concept of mutual restraint is another remarkable feature of China's Zodiac culture, which has more or less influenced the surrounding ethnic groups.

The zodiac is bounded by beginning of spring.

Regarding the issue that many people think is "changing the zodiac after New Year's Eve", Han Shuo said that the main reason is that many folk customs are neglected and gradually forgotten or changed. In addition, the lack of understanding of the traditional astronomical calendar and the prejudice against some feudal superstitious cultures lead to the confusion between the lunar calendar and the official calendar, and the objective and incomplete understanding is also the main reason.

There is a corresponding relationship between the zodiac and the twelve earthly branches, and this conclusion has been drawn from the origin of the zodiac above. Then, of course, the attribution of the zodiac should also be based on the year of the dry calendar. The demarcation point of the year of the main branch is in beginning of spring, so the division of the zodiac should also take beginning of spring as the boundary.

In ancient times, almanac was calculated and published by the government and could not be reproduced without the approval of the royal family. However, under the attraction of paying attention to profits, and because some remote areas can't get the official calendar in time, the emergence of private calendars has not been banned. It was not until the sixteenth year of Qing Qianlong that the people were allowed to engrave the official seal of the Yellow Calendar. When we open any imperial calendar, we can see that the change of the year of dry support is not on the first day of the first month, but on the day when the shadow is established in beginning of spring.

Zheng Ziduan, a folklore researcher in Fuzhou, dug up the lunar calendar of the Republic of China, and it still takes beginning of spring as the starting point of the zodiac. The Spring Festival is only established in modern times, on the first day of the first lunar month every year. After the Revolution of 1911, the title of the emperor was abolished, but the title of the main branch has been used. 19 12. Dr. Sun Yat-sen announced the abolition of the old calendar and the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. 19 14, Yuan Shikai, then president of the Republic of China, issued a decree stipulating that the first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival every year. Before that, people and officials regarded beginning of spring as the first year.

Liu, honorary president of the Chinese Folklore Society, believes that "according to the inherent traditional concept, beginning of spring is the boundary of the wheel". "Since the establishment of the zodiac, we have started to use beginning of spring as the calculation start time of the rotation of the zodiac."

Beginning of spring is used as the calculation basis of the zodiac in China calendar and folklore. Ye Chunsheng, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University and vice chairman of the Chinese Folklore Society, believes that the word "Zodiac" existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, when the corresponding relationship between the twelve earthly branches in the Ganzhi Calendar and the twelve zodiac signs was established and circulated.

China's metaphysics is closely related to the 24 solar terms, so "beginning of spring" has always been regarded as the beginning of a new year in the fields of art and mathematics. As for the first day of the first lunar month, it is only the first day of 12 lunar months. Although every household is celebrating, the calculation of geomantic figures in the new year is still based on "beginning of spring".

China's traditional divination and fortune-telling started in beginning of spring in one year.

To sum up, from the official to the folk, and then to the academic circles, most of them support the saying that the zodiac began in the beginning of spring. Tracing back to the source, it is more orthodox to take beginning of spring as the beginning of the Year of the Zodiac.