Cultural anecdotes about chickens

For the ancients, it was very important for chickens to watch the night to announce the dawn. The ancient timing tools were very simple, such as a leaky kettle. Although it could time, it was impossible to wake people up on time, and there was no later alarm clock. Sleepers don't know what time it is. At this time, the golden rooster announced the dawn and told people that it was almost dawn and they had to get up and get ready for work. People often say "work at sunrise and rest at sunset", but you can't wait until sunrise to get up. Moreover, the sun does not come out every day, and rainy weather loses the basis for observing the sun to set the time. And chickens, whether it is hot or cold, whether it is sunny or snowy, keep their promises and never slack off. It can be said that it is precisely because of the difficulty of dawn crowing that a new day of fireworks and vitality began to appear on the earth.

People in ancient times knew that it was dawn and it was time to get up when they heard the cock crow. Modern people wake themselves up from sleep with an alarm clock. Although the alarm clock is punctual, it is always not as kind and emotional as a crow. Chicken, we will never be strangers. It can be said that it is one of the most beneficial animals to human beings among all poultry.

Many animals, in people's eyes, are no longer simple animals, but have different rich and profound symbolic meanings. This is especially true as an animal in the zodiac. For example, tigers are mighty, cows are hardworking, monkeys are smart and lively, dogs are loyal and brave, and so on. Similarly, the chicken in the zodiac also has its unique and profound symbolic significance.

The most obvious symbolic meaning of chicken is trustworthiness and punctuality. The cock crows at dawn, which means that the sky will be bright. Further extension symbolizes the liberation from darkness to light. For example, "the cock crows, it is dawn, and it is liberated" is such a symbolic meaning of progress.

The second symbolic meaning of chicken is ordinary and weak. Chickens can be found almost everywhere in daily life. Strong reproductive ability, high survival rate, no special requirements for the environment, and can be raised anywhere. As the saying goes, things are rare. The same is true of animals, such as pandas, which are very rare and precious, and are regarded as national treasures because only China has them. Although some animals are not national treasures, they are too few to be extinct, so it is forbidden to kill and protect them as rare animals. It is impossible for chickens to enjoy such treatment. There are so many of them that they are despised. Moreover, as a kind of bird, the flying ability of chicken is greatly degraded. Compared with other birds, they can fly freely in the blue sky; Running on the ground is not as fast and agile as riding a dog, and it has the symbolic significance of being ordinary, popular and weak.

Chickens are common. They are busy all day, looking for food everywhere and pecking at the west. Hard as they are, they are far from comfortable. This ordinary characteristic of chicken is also used to describe the similar fate of human beings, and it is called "life of chicken chops", which means that this person is busy, like a chicken pecking at the west, and finally can only talk about food and clothing, and it is impossible to enjoy precious prosperity. There is a story that once a rich man asked someone to tell his fortune. As a result, the rich man's life is not easy, just a "chicken steak life." But the fortune teller said that the rich people live in a good place, because they live in Gucheng (Gucheng County, Hubei Province), where there are chicken harrows everywhere. Naturally, only when they have enough to eat and wear warm clothes can the rich enjoy the treasure. The rich man said, isn't he poor if he doesn't live in the ancient city? The fortune teller said it was true. I don't want the rich not to believe the fortune teller and think: Is it necessary to be poor when moving out of the ancient city? So his family moved to another county, gradually declined in a few years, and finally lived in poverty. This is just a folk story, which may not be true, but it contains the symbolic meaning of ordinary chickens.

Compared with the weak and ordinary, the chicken also has the symbolic significance of courage and fighting. This meaning comes from cockfighting. Chickens like fighting, especially cocks, which is a common phenomenon in daily life. When two cocks meet, they often have a fight, and occasionally there will be a ground battle between hens.

In order to watch the wonderful cockfighting, people raise special cockfighting. Usually ordinary weak chickens, once they fight, are also nervous, brave and tenacious, and fight fiercely. People are also encouraged and encouraged to learn the courage of cockfighting. This is an example of ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks had cockfighting competitions very early. In one year BC, a Greek general led his troops to the front to fight the Persian army. On the March, he saw two cocks fighting, and his heart couldn't help moving. He believes that if the soldiers' fighting spirit is as tenacious as this rooster, they will surely win the coming battle. So he ordered the team to stop and let the soldiers watch the brave struggle between the two cocks. Sure enough, the soldiers were encouraged to fight bravely and defeated the country. Commemorate this glorious victory. The king of Greece decided to hold the annual cockfighting meeting in Athens from now on. Cockfighting activities soon spread throughout Greece, and soon spread to Mediterranean countries, ancient Rome and other countries. The victory of the Greek army proves that "both armies are brave when they meet", but "bravery" is inspired by cockfighting, which shows that chickens are not always weak.

The fourth symbolic meaning of chicken is to ward off evil spirits, eliminate disasters and respect God. Divination with chickens is found all over the world, and the henhouse means god. The ancients also used chickens to ward off evil spirits and sacrifice. Killing chickens to drive away evil spirits is a kind of witchcraft and superstition. As early as the pre-Qin period, chicken and chicken blood were used to exorcise evil spirits. The ancients believed that chicken and chicken blood had the functions of exorcising ghosts and evil spirits and eliminating disasters. The ancients attached great importance to sacrifice. Among many sacrifices, chicken is one of them. Sacrificing ancestors with chickens is still popular in some areas. Divination with chicken means that chicken symbolizes God. In addition to chicken divination, there are different kinds of egg divination in different regions and nationalities. For example, in southern Yunnan, eggs are used to ask diseases. When a person is ill, he thinks that a ghost is possessed. He rubbed an egg on the patient, thinking that ghosts could attach themselves to the egg. After the eggs are cooked in a pot, they are examined by a wizard to break good luck or bad luck.

About chickens can ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters, and crowing can also drive away ghosts. In folklore, ghosts are most afraid of hearing the crow of chickens, because ghosts can only move in the dark, and crow of chickens means that it is almost dawn. When it is dawn, all ghosts will be helpless. This superstition originated very early. During the Chinese New Year, Jiangnan people hang "paste pictures on chicken coops" on it, and put peach symbols beside it. All ghosts are afraid of it. A picture of a chicken is posted on the door, and hundreds of ghosts are afraid to come to the door. It's just that ghosts are afraid of hearing chickens crow. Until the early days of liberation, adults often told their children that if they met a ghost at night, they could scare it away by imitating crows. (Zodiac/Xiao Sheng/)

In a word, chicken also has its unique symbolic meaning, and people deduce and associate its symbolic meaning from its animal characteristics. Like the symbolic meaning of other animals, there are praises and denials, depending on their different contexts and occasions.