Is there anything particular about the order of the zodiac? Why rats first?

Whether in the East or the West, it is considered very impolite to ask a lady's age. Even if she does, the interviewee will keep his mouth shut and make the inquirer feel bored.

However, in the profound context of China, as long as you use your head a little, you can completely resolve this embarrassment. When a young man meets the girl he likes, they hit it off and chatted happily. When a young man wants to know the age of the other person, he can ask: What is your zodiac sign?

Then, according to the order of 12 zodiac in folk culture, we can find out the age of each other completely. After all, people's faces always bear traces of time. 12 years old, can completely show the exact age of the face. A 24-year-old girl and a 36-year-old woman stand together, and it is easy to tell who is older and who is younger from the appearance.

12 Zodiac, also called 12 Zodiac, is a typical folk culture in China. It uses 12 animals to correspond to a person's birth year. When a person is born in the corresponding animal year, his zodiac is this animal. For example, this year is 2020, which is the year of the rat in the 12 zodiac. People born this year belong to rats.

12 How did the zodiac come into being? Mr. Liu Yaohan (1922-20 12), a famous contemporary scholar, thinks that the formation of 12 zodiac is related to the totem worship of animals in primitive society, because these animals were first contacted and conquered by Chinese ancestors, and the cultural phenomenon of totem worship has been circulating in China for at least 5000 years.

Since ancient times, human beings have worshipped the strong. In primitive society, the Chinese ancestors' cognitive level of natural science was very limited, and their productivity and defense were very low. Faced with those powerful animals or natural phenomena, they can't help but feel awe and gratitude, and regard them as their protectors or ancestors.

The reason for awe is that these animals are quite powerful, such as dragons, tigers, snakes, rats and so on. When people get along with them, it is difficult to defeat them, and they often suffer from their harm and harassment, so they will have a fear of them, turn fear into worship, and expect them to give themselves strength and be as strong as them.

The reason for gratitude is that primitive people gradually domesticated some herbivores after long-term conquest and kept breeding, which provided people with a stable and reliable food source and eliminated the uncertainty that people relied on hunting and gathering to get food. Out of gratitude for herbivores such as cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs and horses, the formation of totem worship has been accelerated.

Whether out of fear or gratitude, when primitive people produced totem worship, it gradually became a spiritual belief in their consciousness. Every time in the slack season, all members of the tribe will take time out to organize grand activities to worship these animals and pray for them to bless themselves with bumper harvests, safety and health.

China ancestors worshipped dragons and tigers, Indians worshipped snakes and eagles, ancient Romans worshipped female wolves, Russians worshipped bears, and many ethnic groups in Africa worshipped lions. These cultural phenomena are concrete manifestations of totem worship.

12 The cultural phenomenon of the zodiac has been recorded in many ancient books, among which there are some poems in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Jiri: Jiri Wei Wu, since Bo prayed. The hunting car is ready, four horses high. Drive up the mound and drive away the group leaders. Lucky day in Wu Geng, horse hunting has been chosen. Looking for a gathering place for wild animals, deer herds are amazing. Remove the beast from the painting and reach the shooting area of the emperor. These poems are considered to be the earliest written records related to the 12 zodiac since the birth of Chinese characters.

12 The Chinese zodiac forms a complete system, which is closely related to human daily life and is recorded in detail. It was undoubtedly written by Wang Chong, a thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty (27-97), and the third volume of Lun Heng, Five Histories, wrote:

Yin wood also, its bird tiger also; It is also soil, and its birds and dogs are also; Ugliness is dirt, ugly birds and cows, no birds and sheep. Wood beats earth, so dogs, cattle and sheep are served by tigers. Hai Shui also, its bird also; Where there is fire, its birds and snakes are also; Children are water, so are their birds and mice; It is also a fire at noon, and its birds and horses are also ... horses, rats, chickens and rabbits at noon. Water is better than fire. Why don't mice chase horses? Jin Shengmu, why don't chickens peck rabbits? Hai Jian, no sheep, ugly cow. Soil is better than water, why don't cattle and sheep kill jackals? The fourth snake is also a monkey. Fire wins gold, why don't snakes eat macaques?

In this passage, the 12 zodiac is included in the "yin-yang and five elements", which is mainly used to record the year, which is not much different from the 12 zodiac we said today. Since Wang Chong, many thinkers, philosophers and even writers have used their intelligence to interpret the 12 Zodiac into many disciplines such as literature, astrology, divination, Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism, which further enriched the cultural connotation of the 12 Zodiac and eventually evolved into the rich folk culture we see today.

After understanding the formation of 12 zodiac, let's take a look at how the ranking of 12 zodiac came from.

12 The order of the zodiac is very interesting. Even illiterate people can easily tell the order: Rat Big, Cow Two, Tiger Three, Rabbit Four, dragon five, Snake Six, Horse Seven, Sheep Eight, Monkey Nine, Chicken Ten, Dog Eleven and Pig Twelve.

12 Among the animals, there are not only fierce dragons and tigers, but also fierce horses and cattle, as well as flexible monkeys and rabbits. Even chickens, dogs, sheep, pigs and other animals are much bigger in size, courage and momentum than mice. Why should the mice that everyone shouts to beat dominate? It's hard to understand.

There are folk views and scientific theories about the ordering of 12 zodiac, and both views have many supporters.

Folk stories are mainly "folk stories".

Scientific theories mainly include "animal habit theory".

"Folk Story Theory" has a strong myth color and is widely circulated among the people. Almost everyone can tell the story vividly. The story is roughly as follows.

It is said that the Tiangong will select 12 excellent palace guards from many animals and select them in the form of competitions. Many animals are eager to try, ready to sign up for the competition and compete.

Because the cat is Nocturnal Animals, she is always sleepy in broad daylight and has no time to register, so she entrusts her good friend Mouse to register herself. The mouse thought: cats are so powerful. If you sign up, wouldn't you be a strong competitor? So the mouse broke down and deliberately refused to register the cat. Later, the cat naturally lost the opportunity to participate in the competition and did not enter the 12 zodiac ranking. From then on, cats hated mice and they became a pair of famous enemies.

In the competition, all kinds of animals showed their magical powers and tried their best to sprint to the champion. However, the process of the competition is long and arduous after all. With perseverance and endurance, scalpers have always been among the best in the sprint stage. Seeing this, the mouse quickened its pace and jumped on the cow's back. At the moment when he was near the finish line, the mouse pushed hard and the first one crossed the finish line. In this way, the mouse won the first place by cleverness, and the bull unfortunately came second.

Obviously, "folk stories" are more like the processing of mythological literature, which embodies the good wishes of the general public and cannot be used as the basis for ranking 12 zodiac signs.

Animal Habits is ranked according to 12 animal activity habits and spleen characteristics.

Smart ancestors of China, through long-term observation of astronomical phenomena, as early as the ancient Huang San (Emperor, Huangdi, Ren Huang) era, it is said that the emperor summed up the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. Ten heavenly stems are: A, B, C, D, E, Ji, Ke, Xin, Ren and Gui, and twelve earthly branches are: Zi, Ugliness, Yin and Mao. The ancients combined heavenly stems and earthly branches with each other, and invented the method of "the era of cadres and branches" to record the order of years, months and moments. Taking 60 years as the time unit, this method is still widely used and still plays an important role in astronomy, geography, calendar, mathematics and other fields.

By the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ancient calendar had developed well. People divide a day into 12 hours, namely, Zishi, Ugly Time, Yin Shi, Shi Mao, Chen Shi, Shi Si, Noon, Wei Shi, You Shi, Xushi and Shihai. Corresponding to the current 24-hour system, childhood is 23- 1 o'clock, clown is 1-3 o'clock, Yin Shi is 3-5 o'clock, Shi Mao is 5-7 o'clock, morning is 7-9 o'clock, and in the past it was 9- 165438. Application time 15- 17, unitary time 17- 19, time 19-2 1, time 2 1-23.

The reason why children's time is put in the first place is because it follows the principle that the ancient calendar starts from children's time every day. In the eyes of the ancients, Zishi is the moment when Yin and Yang alternate, the center of the day, and it is both the starting point and the end point of the moment. Therefore, the division of twelve hours is carried out around the child time. Modern people regard 0: 24 as the beginning and end of a day, completely referring to the division of ancient calendars.

Judging from the time node, the twelve earthly branches and the 12 zodiac are basically produced at the same time. Moreover, they represent the same number, both of which have the function of recording time and have many internal relations. When they meet, they will naturally undergo chemical changes and evolve into a new cultural system.

In fact, the ancients really associated the twelve earthly branches with the 12 zodiac. Based on the laws of the sun, the light and dark changes of the sky and the living habits of animals, many natural laws have been discovered, and the living habits of various animals have been more thoroughly understood.

Rats are most active at midnight (23- 1 point), because rats often wait for opportunities at this moment and plan how to search for food and have a full meal.

Clown time (1-3 o'clock) is the time for cattle to ruminate or eat night grass. In order to digest better, cows should ruminate the forage they eat during the day into their mouths, and then chew it slowly to help their intestines and stomach absorb nutrients and accumulate strength for daytime work.

Yin Shi (3-5 o'clock) is a time when tigers lying in the daytime and walking at night like to show off their strength. Tigers often growl at the mountains at this time.

It is a great pleasure for rabbits to run out of their nests at dawn (5-7 o'clock) and eat grass stained with dew.

At dawn (7-9 o'clock), the rising sun is shrouded in hazy fog, and it is said that dragons will have hallucinations in the fog.

At 4 o'clock (9- 1 1 point), the sun temperature is moderate, and the snake will climb out of the cave to bask in the sun and absorb some heat for the body.

At noon (11-13), the scorching sun makes people impetuous. There is a red-maned horse, which is as violent as the scorching sun and hard to tame.

At the end of the day (13-15), the dew on the grass is dried by the sun, which is the best time to herd sheep. Because sheep's intestines and stomach are too delicate, it is easy to have diarrhea if you eat dew grass.

During the bidding period (15-17), the sun gradually moved westward, and it was no longer so hot. Monkeys like to come out and play among the branches.

In Youshi (17- 19), the sun is about to set and the sky is getting dark. After dark, chickens will become night blindness, and at the same time they will be taken as prey by some wild animals. So the chicken will be driven back to its nest by its owner at this time.

It gets dark at noon (19-2 1), and the ancients usually prepare for a rest at this time. Before the break, the dog will patrol the front and back of the house to eliminate potential safety hazards. During the patrol, dogs bark and help their owners patrol. They look like good friends of human beings.

People have fallen asleep in Shihai (2 1-23: 00). At this time, the pig will make a jingle of biting Rinrin because of hunger. When the owner hears the noise, he will get up and feed the pigs, which will help the pigs gain weight.

The ancients combined the "yin-yang and five elements" and divided most substances in the world into two genera of yin and yang, and a few of them were divided into yin-yang balance. For example, the sky is yang, the earth is yin, men are yang and women are yin, and the "five elements" are gold, wood, water, fire and earth, wood fire is yang, gold water is yin, and earth is a balance of yin and yang.

Similarly, all kinds of animals are divided into males and females, and their rules are divided according to the number of claws or hooves on one foot. Two-claw or two-hoofed animals correspond to female branches, and two-claw or two-hoofed animals correspond to male branches.

In the 12 zodiac, the hooves or claws of cattle, rabbits, sheep, chickens and pigs are all even, and the feet of snakes are extremely yin. Their order in the 12 zodiac is even, so these six animals are placed in the yin branch.

Tigers, dragons, horses, monkeys and dogs all have odd claws or hooves, and their order in the 12 zodiac is also odd, so they correspond to the Yang branch.

However, the mouse is a strange animal with a special number of claws. Its forelimbs are four claws, corresponding to the yin branch, and its hind limbs are five claws, corresponding to the yang branch, spanning the two genera of yin and yang, belonging to an animal with a balance of yin and yang.

In the ecological theory of the ancients, the balance of yin and yang is considered to be the most harmonious, healthy and energetic, and its adaptability to the environment is very prominent. This theory further magnifies the position of the mouse in the 12 zodiac. Coupled with the saying that "the ancient calendar is divided into days, starting from the first half of the year", rats naturally rank first in the 12 zodiac.

Through the above analysis, we have more reason to believe that the viewpoint of "Animal Habit Theory" about 12 zodiac is more convincing.