How did the zodiac come from?

As an ancient folk cultural phenomenon, scholars have different opinions about the origin of the zodiac. Some people think that the zodiac and earthly branches are homologous and can be traced back to prehistoric legend times. In Historical Records, the Yellow Emperor's statements of "building Jiazi for life" and "making every effort to cure Jiazi" are the embodiment of this statement, and scholars believe that Jiazi here refers to the zodiac. Zhao Yi, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, believed that the zodiac originated from nomadic people in northern China. He said in "An Examination of Jade Cong": "At the beginning of the custom of covering the north, there was no ugliness on the 12th, but in the next year, it spread to China, and it was worthy of your ears." (See Zhao Yi's Textual Research on Jade Cong in Qing Dynasty). Some scholars even hold the view that the zodiac was introduced to China from Babylon, and Guo Moruo is the representative of this view. He said in "Study on Oracle Characters and Branch Interpretation", "Twelve elephants are found in Babylon, Egypt and India, but they are not very old, and none of them came from the Western Dynasty 100 years ago. The original intention is that this was made in the Western countries during the Han Dynasty, imitating the Babylonian zodiac and then spreading to the surrounding areas. " It is believed that the Chinese Zodiac was formulated by Middle Eastern residents imitating the Babylonian Zodiac, and was introduced to China when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty communicated with the western regions. The above viewpoints are different, so I dare not judge right or wrong subjectively. However, it is proved by a large number of documents that the Chinese zodiac really originated in China, and it is the crystallization of animal worship, totem worship and early astronomy of China ancestors.

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 leaked] 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. ",ring also, thief round face ..."

The zodiac recorded in Japanese books is roughly the same as 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.

Today's popular zodiac is exactly the same as that recorded by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wang Chong's On the History of Wu Heng contains:

"Yin, wood, its bird, tiger. Soil, its birds and dogs are also. ..... At noon, the horse also arrived. Son, mouse, unitary, chicken. Hair, rabbits, too. ..... hey, tapir. No, so are sheep. Ugly, cattle are also. ..... already, the snake also. Shen, Qitian also. "

In the above text, there are eleven kinds of animals in the zodiac, but the dragon is gone. The book Poison says:

"Chen is a dragon, a snake. Chen and Ji are in the southeast. "

In this way, the zodiac is complete, 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, and it was clearly recorded in the Southern Dynasties' Five Elements Records of South Shu Qi that the zodiac was divided according to the year of birth. Shen Jiong, a poet in the Southern Dynasties, once wrote a poem about the zodiac, which said:

"In the case of mice and dust, cattle and sheep fall 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 are proud of owning, but pigs are carefree. "

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.

It is clear from the above documents that the origin of Zodiac culture is in China. According to the foreign zodiac, the zodiac was introduced to China from the Middle East in the Han Dynasty, which is similar to the introduction of Buddhism. From the above documents, we prove that there were records about the zodiac in China as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (The Book of Heaven and the Book of Songs), which shows that the appearance of the zodiac and the collocation of the zodiac and the earthly branches have been produced as early as the Han Dynasty, so it is certain that the zodiac originated from an ancient culture in China. So what is the origin of the zodiac? Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals? Scholars have been paying attention to this problem and making various explanations.

Some scholars believe that the zodiac originated from animal worship in primitive times, and Mr. Zhang Binglun of China University of Science and Technology holds this view. He believes that under the condition of low productivity and extremely limited ability to understand nature in primitive society, he has a sense of dependence on animals closely related to his life (such as horses, sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, etc.). ), the fear of animals that endanger his own safety (such as tigers and snakes), and the reverence for some animal organ functions that exceed human beings (such as dogs' sense of smell, etc.). ), which leads to the worship of animals. The zodiac is an animal calendar that people use to record the years and months under the influence of the primitive belief of animal worship.

The animal worship of primitive people is also manifested in primitive dances such as Nuo dance, which was produced around the Zhou Dynasty, and the protagonist in Nuo instrument is Fang and twelve beasts. Twelve kinds of animals are selected in Exorcism Dance, which is a manifestation of primitive people's reverence for animals. The twelve animals (or twelve gods) selected at the ceremony are to look after the twelve months of the year, to drive away plagues and ghosts from all directions and look after twelve directions for the safety of the moon. Of course, the care of the twelve directions involves twelve branches, so it is linked with the zodiac, and the zodiac has been well used in the exorcism ceremony. It can be seen that the twelve animals and the zodiac are in the same strain, and their common source is primitive animal worship.

Mr. Liu Yaohan, a ethnologist, believes that the dates of the zodiac and the "Zodiac" are related to the "October Calendar" method of the Yi people. Yi people living in Daliangshan area of Sichuan have a calendar with twelve kinds of animals as the date of the year. They use twelve kinds of animals as the date of the year. Today is the Year of the Rat and tomorrow is the Year of the Ox. By analogy, three rounds is a month, 36 days, a month is 36 days, and a year is ten months. This is the later "October calendar" method. Mr. Liu Yaohan believes that the October calendar, which marks the dates according to the Chinese zodiac, came into being in the Xia and Yu Dynasties (see Liu Yaohan's Collection of Social and Historical Investigation of Yi People), which is related to the primitive totem worship. The zodiac was influenced by the October calendar, and the Yi zodiac calendar later developed into the zodiac.

When we talk about the origin of the zodiac, we must associate it with heavenly stems and earthly branches. The oldest existing branch table in China unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang in modern times shows that the date of branches in the Yin and Shang Dynasties has been mastered. Later, with the passage of time, the functions of the branches gradually diversified. As a label as a time unit, on the one hand, it is extended and used in chronology; On the one hand, it reduces the time (twelve hours a day). According to historical records and textual research, the zodiac appeared after the establishment of the "branch chronology" Twelve kinds of animals correspond to the twelve earthly branches one by one, and animals are the signs of earthly branches. People born in the same year all have their own animals, so twelve kinds of animals are used to date the year and calculate each person's zodiac. It can be seen that the zodiac and the twelve earthly branches are inseparable. For a long time, scholars have found that the ancient Chinese characters of the zodiac contain the information of the zodiac. They compared the ancient Chinese characters of the Chinese zodiac with those of the Chinese zodiac, and found that the ancient Chinese characters of the Chinese zodiac were related to twelve kinds of animals. Careful observation shows that there are some similarities and some differences. In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the word "Ji" was described as a pictographic character of a snake, as well as "Hai" and "tapir". People nearby have also verified that there are similarities between the characters of the earthly branches in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and the inscriptions on bronze inscriptions and the characters of the zodiac, which makes people wonder whether the zodiac is the pictographic characters of the animals of the zodiac. Because the ugly shade and ugly hair of the twelve earthly branches are easy to remember, people use twelve kinds of animals instead, and animals instead of ordinal symbols to match the earthly branches, which has become the symbol system of the year. Although the above conjecture has certain credibility, if you think about it carefully, you can still judge that the zodiac can't be pictographs of the zodiac, because as mentioned earlier, the zodiac was skillfully used in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, while the zodiac was only produced in the Spring and Autumn Period and came from different sources. If the earthly branches are related to the zodiac when creating characters, wouldn't the zodiac be produced at the same time as the earthly branches?

To sum up, the author thinks that the zodiac appeared later than the twelve earthly branches, but it is closely related to the twelve earthly branches. The zodiac is an appendage of the twelve earthly branches. Choosing twelve animals as symbols instead of the twelve earthly branches stems from the animal worship psychology of the ancients.

2. Selection and arrangement of the zodiac

The choice of the zodiac is not complicated, but it is close to the daily life and social life of the Han people, which can be guessed. Zodiac animals can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the "six animals" domesticated by human beings, namely cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs and chickens. Animals domesticated by human beings for economic or other purposes account for half of the Zodiac animals. "Six Livestock" is an important concept in China agricultural culture with a long history. In the traditional concept of China people, "Six Livestock Flourishing" represents the prosperity, auspiciousness and beauty of the family. During the Spring Festival, people usually talk about "the prosperity of six animals", so it is inevitable that these six animals will become the zodiac. The second category is well-known wild animals, which are closely related to people's daily and social life. They are tigers, rabbits, monkeys, rats and snakes, and some of them participate in human life with awe, such as tigers and snakes. There are also rodents that people hate and taboo, but they rely on human beings to survive; More people like it, such as rabbits and monkeys. The third category is the traditional symbolic mascot of China people-the dragon, which is a symbol of the Chinese nation, an "artifact" with many animal features, and a "spiritual thing" in people's imagination. Dragon represents wealth and auspiciousness, and it is the most symbolic auspicious animal, so its position in the zodiac is indispensable.

As can be seen from the above, the choice of zodiac animals is not arbitrary, but has certain meanings. People choose animals from different angles, which has certain significance.

So in what order are these twelve animals arranged? As mentioned earlier, the zodiac was born in the atmosphere of ancient animal worship and totem worship. People just use animals to borrow ordinal symbols to match the earthly branches. Why did you choose these twelve animals, who came first and in what order? There is no conclusion. Because the zodiac was born in ancient culture, people have lost the original intention of the arrangement because of its age. Today's legends and stories are only attached to it, and they can only rely on legends and imagination. There are three explanations about the arrangement of the zodiac.

The first is the arrangement of the zodiac in folklore stories. Han folktale says: In those days, Huangdi in Xuanyuan wanted to choose twelve kinds of animals as court guards, and the cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot. As a result, the cat didn't choose it, and since then, it has made enemies with the mouse. The elephant also came to the competition, and the mouse got into its nose and drove it away. The rest of the animals, originally headed by cows, were rushed to the backs of cows, and pigs also booed, so the mice came first and the pork chops came last. The tiger and the dragon refused to accept it, and were named king of the mountain and king of the sea, ranking behind the mouse and the cow. The rabbit refused to accept it again, raced with the dragon and finally reached the dragon. The dog was unfair and bit the rabbit in a rage, so he was punished from the bottom. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens have also gone through some contests and arranged their positions one by one. Finally, the order of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs was formed. Although the legendary story is not a scientific explanation of the problem, it embodies people's explanation of the choice of the zodiac.

Secondly, Chinese ancient scholars explained the relationship between earthly branches and Xiao beasts from the perspective of twelve o'clock in ancient times. There is chaos in the darkness. Rats come out in the middle of the night and bite the chaotic state between heaven and earth out of the gap. "Rats bite the sky", so they belong to rats. When the sky opens, the land will be reclaimed. "This land will be saved from ugliness." Cows have to plow fields, so ugliness belongs to cows. Yin Shi is the time when a person is born. If he lives, he must die. Nothing can kill people more than a tiger. Yin has awe, so Yin belongs to a tiger. Shi Mao is the image of sunrise. The sun should be separated from divination, which is like fire. The yin contained in it is the moon's fine jade rabbit, so Shi Mao is a rabbit. March is the rainy season. Chen Ziran belongs to the dragon. The divinatory symbols in April, at this moment, spring grass is flourishing, which is a good day for snakes, like a duck to water. Besides, it's already morning, when the snake is returning to the hole, so it's already a snake. At noon and afternoon, the sun's spirit reaches its peak, and the yin is budding. A horse, an animal, gallops and flies with its hooves, but it tramples on the ground from time to time. The sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the horse jumps between yin and yang, so it becomes the zodiac at noon. Sheep, grazing in the afternoon is the best time, and it is easy to gain weight. This time is not timely, so it is not a sheep. Not after dressing, but when the monkey is crying near the western hills, and the monkey likes to stretch his arms and jump at this time, so the monkey is worth dressing. When the moon appears, it belongs to water, so it should be divination. The hexagrams are the upper and lower yin, and the middle yang represents the sun and the essence of the sun. That's why you are a chicken. When night falls, it's time. Dogs are vigil animals, and when they are with them, they become dogs. Then when the sea comes, heaven and earth are immersed in a state of chaos, just like a fruit wrapped in stones, and everything in the world is covered at night. Pigs are chaotic creatures that only know how to eat, so pigs have become the zodiac of Hai. Zhu, a famous Neo-Confucianist in Song Dynasty, holds this view.

Thirdly, according to China people's belief in Yin and Yang, twelve kinds of animals are divided into Yin and Yang, and the Yin and Yang of animals are arranged according to the odd-even difference of toes. Animals generally have the same number of toes in front, back, left and right. Only mice have four feet in front and five feet in the back, even and odd. Things are rare, of course, they rank first, followed by cattle and four toes (even number); Tiger, five toes (odd number); Rabbit, four toes (even number); Dragon, five toes (odd number); Snakes, no toes (occasionally); Horse, one toe (odd number); Sheep, four toes (even number); Monkey, five toes (odd number); Chicken, four toes (even number); Dog, five toes (odd number); Pig, four toes (even number). This view was held by Hong Xun, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, and Lang Ying, an Amin scholar, classified it on this basis, and put forward "below the earthly branch" in his manuscript of the Seventh Revision of the Zodiac, so the number of toes should be treated differently. The mouse has four claws in front, even number is yin, hind foot is five claws, and odd number is yang. The first half of the child is the yin of last night, and the second half is the yang of today, just using mice to symbolize the child. The four claws of cattle, sheep, pig's trotters and chickens, plus the four claws of rabbits lacking lips and the tongue of snakes, should all be even, belonging to Yin, accounting for six. Tigers have five claws, monkeys and dogs have five claws, and horseshoes are round and undivided. All six are odd numbers, belonging to Yang, and together with the mice belonging to Yang, they occupy the other six branches. Lang Ying's classification is the flood borrowing classification, and the two are similar.

The above three explanations explain the arrangement of the zodiac from different angles, and the folklore about the arrangement of animals in the zodiac is very rich. On the one hand, the spread of these legends enriches the content of the zodiac, on the other hand, it also promotes the inheritance and development of the zodiac culture. The zodiac is divided into two categories, Yin and Yang, which are incorporated into the concept of China people's belief in five elements. The purpose is to link the zodiac with life rituals, and to correspond the Yin-Yang and Five Elements with the zodiac, thus explaining other related life and cultural phenomena.

3. China people believe in the Zodiac.

Zodiac was originally a set of symbols used in chronology, which was a part of ancient astronomical calendar, and later became a widely recognized zodiac calendar. China's ancient philosophy is "harmony between man and nature" and "Yin and Yang and five elements are the foundation of the universe". They think that the sun and the moon are the source of yin and yang, and the five elements of Jin Mu's fire, water and earth are the foundation of all things, and they are combined into seven obsidians [zw()]. The sun, the moon and the stars are called obsidian, and the sun, the moon and the golden wood water. It dominates everything, and the zodiac is located in the sky, which is unified with the twelfth day of the year and the seven wonders. Therefore, the zodiac is influenced by the concept of yin and yang and the five elements and becomes a part of folk religious beliefs.

Since the concept of the zodiac appeared in the folk, with the prevalence of fortune telling, it has been circulating among the people. Folk superstition holds that every element in the five elements is mutually restrictive and will have a great influence on people's life. People can use different five elements to coordinate, so that their life and work can be satisfactory. Folks classify the animals of the zodiac as yin and yang, corresponding to the five elements, thus producing a set of fortune-telling techniques that determine the fate of the zodiac. At the same time, people also believe that the zodiac has a certain relationship with people's personality. Even people with the same zodiac sign have different personalities and fates because of their different birth times. ? A very important part of the belief in the zodiac is China people's concept of the zodiac. The birth year of the Han nationality is based on the zodiac, which is closely related to the zodiac. When a person is born in the lunar calendar, then every year of this zodiac will be the year of his birth. Because of the cycle of the zodiac, every 12 years, people will meet their own birth years and introduce them in turn. The birth years of life are 12 years old, 24 years old, 36 years old, 48 years old and 60 years old respectively. People think that the year of birth is a bad year, so we should seek good fortune and avoid evil. Every animal year in the north of Han nationality, no matter adults or children, they should wear red belts, which is called "tying red". Children should wear red vests and red shorts, thinking that only in this way can they make money and avoid disasters. This custom is still popular all over the country. During the Spring Festival, red and yellow ribbons of "auspicious ribbon" and "auspicious knot" are sold everywhere in the market. People in this animal year tie them around their waists and wrists, which can resolve disasters and turn evil into good. Many ethnic groups in our country attach great importance to the 60th birthday of the elderly, calling it "flower flower flower". Huahuahua is the sixth animal year in a person's life, and it is also the reincarnation of a dry year, so we should celebrate it well to pin people's wishes for longevity, health and good luck.

Taoism is a native religion born and bred in China. Founded in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it has been circulated 1800 years. Taoism takes Yin-Yang and Five Elements as its core teachings. Under the influence of the concept of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, Taoism has a close natural relationship with heavenly stems and earthly branches and the Zodiac. Among the famous Taoist temples in Beijing, there is the Chen Yuan Temple, also known as the "Sixty Jiazi Temple", which is the core memorial of life in the temple where believers pray to Chen Yuan. I was born in Chen Yuan, the core monument of my life. In the past, I often worshipped Chen Yuan's star god, the core monument of life, and prayed for good luck. My name is Shunxing. Chen Yuan Temple is a place to worship the star of Chen Yuan, the core monument of life. There are 60 Jiazi statues in the temple. They are: General Jinbian, General Cai Chen, General Zhang Geng, General Ding Mao, General Shen Daxing, General Zhao Da, General Guo Canda, General Wang Jida, General Li Su, General Ren Shen, General Kang Zhida, General Jia Shu and General Shi Guang. General Lu Xian, General Longzhong, General Chen Geng, General Dong Deda, General Zheng Dan, General Minglu, General Gui Wei, General zhangfang, General Yiyou, General Bai Min, General Ding Hai, General Zou Dang and General Fu Judas. General Peng Tai, General Xu Dan, General Yi Si, General Yang Xianda, General Bing Shen, General Ding You, General Tangcha, General Wujiang, General Xie Tai, General Mi Lu, General Xin Chou, General He Huan and General Gui Mao. General Sherry, General Miao Bing, General Wu Shen, General Cheng Baoda, General Geng Sui, General Ren Zi, General Qiu De, General Zhu De, General Juck Zhang, General Xin Yada, General Ding Si, General Yang Yan, General Li Wei and General Wu Tai Sui. People born in different years within 60 years, headed by Jiazi Year, can find their own core monument.

According to Taoist teachings, the cultivation of truth and refinement must be dedicated to Yuan in the core monument of life, and only by removing distractions and selfishness can we live forever. It has become a custom to worship the birthday of the core monument of life. Every year on the seventh and eighth day of the first month, Beijingers will go to the Chenyuan Temple in Baiyunguan to "worship the stars" and pray for a year of peace, which means that even in bad years, they can be protected by the god of life's core monuments through prayer. The above 60 life-core tablet gods enshrined in the temple are all clay sculptures with heavy colors, all of which are statues, absorbing the animal images of their respective zodiac signs. Some of the names of these 60 statues are historical figures, and their images bear obvious signs of the zodiac, such as Jia Zi's old age, golden age, distinguished generals, rat appearance, holding peaches and so on.

From the contents of Taoism about the core of life, the tablet god and the sixty sons, we can see the relationship between the belief in the zodiac and Taoism. Taoism believes in Laozi's Tao, which is everywhere and the beginning of all things. Everything in the world is dominated by it, and life is no exception. The idea that the Chinese zodiac cooperates with heavenly stems and earthly branches to form the sixties is a manifestation of the combination of the Chinese zodiac and Taoism. People worship the core monument of Chen Yuan, the god of life, in order to pray for the blessing of the gods. It can be seen that the zodiac has become a dominant factor in people's lives and a part of life beliefs.

4. Zodiac of all ethnic groups

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.