Investigation on the origin and legend of the zodiac, 12 Introduction to the origin and ranking of the zodiac.

When it comes to the origin and story investigation of the zodiac, we all know that someone asked about the origin of 12 zodiac and their ranking introduction. In addition, someone wants to ask about the ranking and story of the zodiac. Do you know what this is about? In fact, the myth of the origin of the zodiac is a short story. Let's take a look at the origin of the 12 zodiac and their rankings, hoping to help everyone!

Investigation on the Origin and Story of the Zodiac

1 and the origin and story of the zodiac: 12 Introduction to the origin and ranking of the zodiac.

2. The origin and story of the zodiac: the order and story of the zodiac. Do you know which constellations? They are rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. How to make a little mouse famous? Here's another story. On the day of registration, the mouse got up early and the cow got up early. They met on the road. Cows take big strides, mice take small steps. The mouse was out of breath and barely kept up with the cow. The mouse thought, the road is still far, and I can't run fast. what can I do?

3. The origin and story investigation of the zodiac: the myth of the origin of the zodiac and the brief story content.

4. The origin and story investigation of the zodiac: 12 The origin of the zodiac pairing? 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 times. In Historical Records, the Yellow Emperor's statements of "building Kanesaku's longevity year" and "making great efforts to cure Jiazi" are the reflection of this statement. Scholars believe that Jiazi here refers to the Chinese 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 think that the zodiac was introduced to China from Babylon. The representative of this view is Guo Moruo, who said in Oracle Bone Inscriptions Studies, "There are twelve statues in Babylon and Egypt, but they are not very old, nor are they more than 100 years after the Western Dynasty." The original intention is that it was made in the western countries in the Han Dynasty, imitating the twelve zodiac signs of Babylon, and then spread 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 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 ancestor animal worship, totem worship and early astronomy.

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. Bamboo slips unearthed from tomb 1 1 in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province in, further proved that the twelve zodiac animals existed before and after the Spring and Autumn Period. There is a chapter named "Thief" in the bamboo slips unearthed in Japan, and its content is the appearance characteristics of thieves, which records: "Son, mouse, thief, ugly, cow, thief, big nose and long neck, yin, tiger, thief-like, eager to become, and black face." Hair, rabbits, thieves are big. Chen, [original leak] thieves are people, green red and ants. The thief is long and black. At noon, the deer is also a thief with a long neck and a small cut. No, horses, thieves have ears. Shen, Huan, thief is round. "

Selection and arrangement of the zodiac

The choice of the zodiac is not complicated, but it is close to the daily life of the Han people and 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 first is the well-known wild animals, which are closely related to people's daily 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 China, an "artifact" that combines many animal features, and a "spiritual thing" in people's imagination. The dragon represents wealth and good luck, and is an auspicious animal symbolizing color, so the position of the dragon 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 only use animals to borrow ordinal numbers to match 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 their original intention of arrangement because of their age. The story of today's people is only attached to it, and can only be relied on and imagined. There are three explanations about the arrangement of the zodiac.

The first is the arrangement of the zodiac in the story.

The myth of the origin of the zodiac "A Brief History of the Han Nationality" said: In those days, the Yellow Emperor of Xuanyuan wanted to choose the zodiac as a guardian, and the cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot. As a result, the cat was not chosen, 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 led by cattle, were rushed to the back of cattle by rats, and pigs also booed, so rats and pork chops. Tiger and dragon refused to accept, and were named mountains and seas, ranking behind rats and cows. 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 are also arranged one by one, forming the order of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. Although this 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 a mouse in the dark, which comes out in the middle of the night and bites out the state between heaven and earth from the gap. "The mouse bites the sky", so it belongs to the mouse. 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 like the sunrise. The sun should be separated from divination, which is like fire, and the yin contained in it is the essence of the moon, so Shi Mao belongs to the rabbit. March is the rainy season. Chen Ziran belongs to the dragon. In April, at this moment, spring grass is a good day for snakes, just like fish get water. Besides, it's morning, and the snake is returning to the cave, so it belongs to the snake. In the afternoon, the spirit of the sun reached its acme and was budding. A horse, an animal, gallops and flies with its hooves, but it tramples on the ground from time to time. The sky is sunny, the ground is cloudy, and the horse jumps between them, so it becomes the zodiac at noon. Sheep eat grass for an hour in the afternoon and gain weight easily. This time is not the right time, 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 hexagram is the hexagram, and the middle hexagram represents the sun and the essence of the sun. So, 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 again, just like the 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 scholar in the Song Dynasty, holds this view.

Thirdly, according to the belief of China people, twelve kinds of animals are divided into two categories, and the yin and yang of animals are arranged according to the odd-even difference of toes.

Animals generally have the same number of front, back, left and right toes, only mice have the first four feet, the last five feet, even and odd, and things are rare, followed by cows 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). Hong Xun, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, and Lang Ying, a contemporary scholar, classified according to this statement, and put forward that "the ground is at the bottom" in their book "Seven Revision of the Zodiac", so don't look at the number of toes. 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 cloudy last night, and the second half is yang, just using the mouse 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 account for 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 stories about the arrangement of animals in the zodiac are very rich. On the one hand, the spread of these stories enriches the content of the zodiac, on the other hand, it also promotes the inheritance and development of the zodiac culture. Zodiac is divided into two categories, which are incorporated into the five elements concept of China people. The purpose is to link the zodiac with the life ceremony, and to correspond the five elements with the zodiac, thus explaining other related life and cultural phenomena.

The above is an introduction to the origin and ranking of the 12 zodiac, and it is a sharing of the introduction to the origin and ranking of the 12 zodiac. I read the origin and story investigation of the zodiac, and hope this will help everyone!