Why do pigs rank last in the zodiac?

Why is the mouse the first animal in the zodiac, not the dragon walking on clouds, nor the tiger of the king of beasts? Why not take a fancy to a strong and gentle cow? Why not choose an unusually clever monkey? There are different opinions, such as "Taoist Jade Emperor", "Buddha as Tathagata", "ancestor of Yellow Emperor", "celestial stars" and "primitive tribal totem". In my opinion, the order of the zodiac was arranged by the ancients according to the living habits and activity characteristics of twelve animals.

Astronomers divide day and night into twelve hours, namely: Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Noon, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai. Why use these words to set the time? By analyzing the prototype and original meaning of these twelve words, we can see clearly.

Son: For. Like an infant. The original meaning of zi is: young, egg. Ancient refers to children. From 23: 00 to 1: 00, it is midnight in the dead of night, which is the threshold of today and tomorrow. It can also be said that the "baby" of "tomorrow" is about to be born, or is already in its infancy. When you are young, it is the moment when you are pregnant, and it is the moment when you hatch.

Ugly: for. The word "twist" is like a finger grasping an object and twisting it. Twist and make a rotation. After childhood, it's ugly from one to three. The night is deep, but the "second day" has begun. Invisible, it seems that there is a big hand turning the celestial body-the night is about to be turned away and the day is about to be distorted.

Yes Some people say that if you are facing an enemy, others say that if you hold an arrow in both hands, that is, the ancient word "lead". Introduction can be interpreted as pulling, leading, making and leaving. From 3: 00 to 5: 00 before dawn, it is the moment when the night is about to leave and the first light is drawn.

Mao: That's right. Some say it's adventure, like the shape of a door, like a body and like a broken object. This is Liu's original words. It's Shi Mao from five to seven in the morning. It's dawn, the sun is out, and it's time to open the door for others. Shi Mao, blacks and whites are no longer confused, but separated.

Chen: Yes. There is the word "shell shape"; Also known as "",there is a body. I thought it meant to convey clouds. One day above the clouds, it is "morning"; When there is no sun, the clouds are full of air. Summer morning, 7: 00 to 9: 00, foggy.

Rudder: Yes, it is said that the head is protruding like a fetus and the body is curled up; Also known as pictograms of snakes. From 9 am to 1 1, the fog disappears, which is the warm time for the snake to climb out of the cave.

Afternoon: for. There is the word "pestle", which looks like a wooden pestle; It is also said that reaching it is a contradiction. Stand a wooden pestle in the sun, and the wooden pestle has no shadow, because the sun shines from above. The ancients created words by form, took meaning by form, and ordered things by form and meaning. So the time between Japan and China, that is, from eleven to thirteen, is noon.

No: yes. Like overlapping branches and leaves of trees, things have no taste until they grow up. The original word of "taste" At the end of 13:00 ~ 15:00 in the afternoon, it indicates that trees will flourish and fruits will mature only after strong sunlight. Ripe fruit will be very tasty.

Shen: Right. Some people say it's like lightning, while others say it's "God". From 15 to 17, it was stormy and thunderous. The ancients didn't know what lightning was and thought it was made by heaven.

Unitary: for. Like an altar of wine, the word "wine". 17:00- 19:00, at night, when the day's work is over, it's time to eat, so let's call it "drinking time" for short.

Hehe: Yes. People know Ge, that is, people are guarded by Ge (weapons). 19:00-2 1:00, after a full meal, it is time for the whole family to fall asleep. However, we should not be careless, and we should also prevent foreign enemies or wild animals from invading us, so we should carry weapons to guard us.

h:，。 It is said that like a pig, the word "tapir" is a variant. Grass roots. -Say it. From 2 1 o'clock to 23: 00, the owner was awakened by the sound of the pig's arch groove-if the pig wants to be fat, it has to get up in the middle of the night to add rice to it. In addition, grass roots are related to the tubers of plants, which are the feed for pigs.

The twelve words at twelve o'clock actually describe and depict a picture of the life schedule of ancient farmers in summer! Even the natural landscape is vivid and concise.

Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, as early as the Shang Dynasty, there was a method to calculate the age with heavenly stems and earthly branches. Branches and branches were first used to record days, and later developed into calendar months and years.

So, how do twelve o'clock and the zodiac combine?

The best time to watch the celestial phenomena should be in the dead of night and when the stars are all over the sky. At midnight (23:00 ~ 1:00), the ancients (astronomers or Taoists) looked up at the sky for a long time and suddenly heard a small noise around them. They looked down and saw that the mouse was moving. Over time, the ancients found that the time for rats to haunt was midnight. As a result, when I was a child, I was associated with mice and became a "daughter mouse", ranking first by the beginning of the day.

"Horses are not fat without night grass", and so are cows. It is a major event for farmers to plow the fields with cattle and feed them well. When it's ugly (1 until 3 o'clock), the farmer will get up and feed the cows. When cows are associated with ugliness, they become "ugly cows".

Tigers are fiercest at night from three to five in the morning, and farmers often hear tigers not far away at this time. As a result, the tiger was associated with Yin Shi, so there was a "Yin tiger".

From five o'clock to seven o'clock, at dawn, the rabbit ran out of the nest to eat dew grass. Therefore, rabbits are associated with Shi Mao, and hence the "hairy rabbits".

From 7: 00 to 9: 00, it is smog time. It is said that dragons can fly in the clouds, and only in the fog will they "see the tail but not the head". However, the dragon is a legendary animal, or an "artificial animal" pieced together by people with "parts" of several animals. Not in reality. Only in fog can people have the illusion of dragons. In this way, the dragon will appear in the morning fog. When dragons are associated with time, there is a "dragon".

From 9: 00 to 1 1, the fog cleared and the sun was shining. The snake with unstable body temperature crawled out of the hole to bask in the sun. Snakes, whether poisonous or not, are terrible, and the most active moment of snakes is "Shi Si". Draw the "four" in the shape of a snake when making words. The "fourth snake" is naturally linked.

From eleven o'clock to thirteen o'clock, the sun is shining. This "fierce" reminds people of the horse, one of the "right-hand men" of human beings. A fierce horse with a red mane is a good colt, but its temper is as fierce as the midday sun. When horses are associated with noon, there is a "noon horse".

13:00- 15:00, the sun has dried the dew on the grass, don't forget this is a good time to feed the sheep. As a result, "Weiyang" came into being.

15:00- 17:00, when the sun goes down, or after the rain, the weather looks refreshing. At this time, monkeys like to play and crow in the Woods. People heard it, kept it in mind, and linked this moment with monkeys, so there was a "monkey application".

17:00- 19:00, the sun is about to set, and the domestic chickens are going home; If you don't go back to your nest, you will find it when it gets dark. The farmer's wife was in a hurry, calling everywhere and knocking the chicken into the nest. This time of eating and drinking is also connected with the domestic chickens entering the nest, so there is a "unitary chicken".

19: 00-2100, people should patrol before going to bed; Followed by another "assistant" of human beings-dogs. It is just right to be a "dog" when you are involved with dogs during patrol.

2/kloc-0: 00 to 23: 00, the owner was very happy to hear the sound of the fat pig arch ditch in the middle of the night. However, if you want pigs to gain weight, you have to get up and feed them. During the sea, nature was associated with pigs, so there was a "sea pig".

When the twelve characters representing twelve o'clock are combined with the Chinese zodiac, they are: Rat, Ugly Bull, Silver Tiger, Hairy Rabbit, Chen Long, Sishe, Wuma, Weiyang, Shenhou, Ji You, Dog and Haizhu.