A detailed introduction to the zodiac

China's zodiac animals are made up of eleven natural animals, namely, rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs and legendary dragons. Used to record the year, the order is mouse, ugly cow, silver tiger, hairy rabbit, dragon, snake, afternoon horse, sheep, monkey, chicken and sheep. It is widely used in many countries and nationalities. Many poets have written poems describing the zodiac. At the same time, the zodiac is also used for Chinese medicine and animation names.

There is a myth about the origin of the zodiac: In those days, Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan chose twelve kinds of animals as court guards. 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 rats ranked first and pork chops ranked 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. The lunar calendar algorithm China Huangli uses beginning of spring to determine the zodiac. The "lunar calendar" is the lunar calendar that began to be used in the Han Dynasty. The New Year is bounded by beginning of spring, beginning of spring is the first of the 24 solar terms, and the zodiac is based on beginning of spring. There are 10 stems and 12 earthly branches in the middle of Liujiaji, that is, Zichou Yin Mao and Tatsumi Shen You Xu Hai at noon. From Jiazi, Picnic, Bingyin, Ding Mao ... Only 60 lines complete a cycle. This is a bit complicated and hard to remember, so the ancients thought of using animals to represent complex earthly branches, that is, the zodiac. Rats, ugly cows, silver tigers, hairy rabbits, dragons, snakes, afternoon horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. The zodiac is unique in Liu Jianian, China, and it should be counted from beginning of spring. Traditional folklore, such as numerology and divination, all use "beginning of spring" as the basis for calculating the zodiac! Including the current folk astrology divination, Mr. Divination has always followed the traditional zodiac method. Because the zodiac is the same as the earthly branch, it can't be determined by the current Spring Festival. The traditional Spring Festival refers to the beginning of spring, and the first day of the first month is the New Year. In the first year of the Republic of China (19 1 1), the Gregorian calendar 1 is the Spring Festival. Due to opposition from the people, Yuan Shikai adopted a compromise method and named the Gregorian calendar 1 as New Year's Day.

Controversy about the Zodiac Algorithm

Some people decide the zodiac directly according to the Spring Festival for convenience, so the tradition is gradually forgotten by many people, and the definition of the zodiac is controversial. There are even folklore scholars who claim that the zodiac should be set according to the Spring Festival, but they can't find the basis, just speculating that "it should be set according to the Spring Festival" or "for convenience"; But many folklore scholars who support the beginning of spring Zodiac can find the traditional basis. According to the questionnaire, the number of people who use the tradition of setting the zodiac in beginning of spring and forget it is 50/50. Of course, if you happen to be born on a "controversial" date, you can also decide according to your personal preference. The Chinese zodiac signs are opposite to each other, and they are the six divisions in the wheel of karma, which embodies all the expectations and demands of our ancestors for us in China. The first group: rats and cows. Rats represent wisdom and cows represent diligence. The two must be closely combined. Only wisdom without diligence will become wisdom, and diligence will become stupidity. So the two must be combined. This is the first set of expectations and requirements of our ancestors for China people, and it is also the most important set. The second group: tigers and rabbits. Tigers represent courage, rabbits represent caution. The two must be closely combined to achieve the so-called boldness and caution. Courage without caution becomes recklessness, and blind caution becomes timidity. This group is also very important, so it is placed in the second place. The third group is the dragon snake. The dragon represents tenacity, and the snake represents flexibility. The so-called rigid is easy to fold, too rigid is easy to break; Too soft is easy to be weak, too soft is easy to lose your mind, so combining rigidity with softness is our ancestral motto. The fourth group is horses and sheep. Horses represent indomitable spirit and strive for goals, while sheep represent unity and harmony. The Chinese nation is a big family, and we need a united and harmonious internal environment. Only by collective harmony can we free our hands to pursue our respective ideals. If a person only cares about his own interests and does not pay attention to unity and harmony, he is doomed to be lonely. Therefore, individual efforts and collective harmony must be closely combined. The fifth group is monkeys and chickens. Monkeys represent flexibility, and chickens crow regularly, representing constancy. Flexibility and constancy must be closely combined. If you are flexible and not static, no matter how good the policy is, you will not get anything in the end. But if you just stay the same, stagnate and be monolithic, there will be no reform and opening up today. There is only a very harmonious combination between them. On the one hand, it has stability and maintains the overall harmony and order, on the other hand, it can continue to develop flexibly. Finally, dogs and pigs. Dogs represent loyalty and pigs represent easygoing. If a person is too loyal and doesn't know how to be easy-going, he will exclude others. On the other hand, if a person is too easy-going and has no loyalty, he will lose his principles. Therefore, whether it is loyalty to a nation-state, loyalty to a team, or loyalty to one's own ideals, it must be closely combined with easygoing, so that it is easy to truly maintain deep loyalty. This is what we in China have always insisted, that a gentleman is harmonious but different. Everyone in China has his own zodiac sign. Some people are pigs, others are dogs. What's the point? In fact, our ancestors expected us to be harmonious and impartial, and asked us to know how to cut into the corresponding surface. For example, pigs can pursue loyalty in an easy-going nature; On the other hand, the loyal nature of dogs is easygoing.