Introduction to the Zodiac (Be sure to introduce it)

The Zodiac, also known as the Zodiac, is twelve kinds of animals in China that match the twelve earthly branches according to the year of birth, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

It is matched with twelve earthly branches (Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai) in turn to form rats, ugly cows, yinhu, hairy rabbits, dragons, snakes, afternoon horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens and monkeys. People in China often take the Lunar New Year as the New Year's Zodiac, and the symbolic animal of its birth year as the Zodiac, with a cycle of one round.

Zodiac is the year of the dry branch, starting from "beginning of spring", that is, February 4th or 5th in the solar calendar. Beginning of spring is one of the 24 solar terms, which belongs to the solar calendar rather than the lunar calendar.

However, it is still controversial to use beginning of spring as the conversion node in the Zodiac, because the earthly branch is used to record the moon first, and the "date, day and month of the Zodiac dominated by the stem" appeared earlier than the "date of the stem" and the "twenty-four solar terms". As a totem of the date, the Zodiac is intended to facilitate people's memory and use, not to achieve the scientific purpose of accurate calculation.

Most records of the zodiac are based on the first day of the first lunar month. The ancient calendar was formulated and promulgated by the government, which has unquestionable authority. The almanac issued by officials in past dynasties recorded the year and the zodiac, all of which were changed from the first day of the first month to the elephant trunk and the zodiac. But strictly according to the definition of numerology, it should be counted from beginning of spring.

Extended data:

The legend of the zodiac. In ancient times, human knowledge was limited, and the calculation and distinction of years and months were unknown. So, at the request of human beings, the Jade Emperor God came up with twelve kinds of animals to make year numbers so that ordinary people can remember them conveniently.

However, it is not easy to decide which animal to choose. Finally, after careful consideration, the Jade Emperor decided to hold an animal crossing competition on his birthday, and selected the top 12 animals as the zodiac animals to mark the year.

After the news spread, all the animals longed for a place in the zodiac. Among them, mice and kittens with good feelings also want to go to the meeting, but they are too small to swim. So I asked the gentle buffalo who got up early on weekdays to give them a ride.

Early in the morning on the jade emperor's birthday, the little mouse went to wake the sleepy kitten. But the kitten couldn't wake up, so Buffalo told the mouse to ignore him and set off quickly. Just as they were about to reach the finish line, the buffalo thought of "winning the first place", but the mouse jumped in front of the cow and grabbed the first place.

Buffalo only won the second place. The tiger was wet and won the third place. The rabbit helped cross the river through other animals, and then quickly jumped in front of the jade emperor and won the fourth place. Because of duty, the dragon who came to the meeting after a rain missed the first place and only ranked fifth.

Then there is the horse. In fact, the snake is hidden under the horse. The horse was frightened when the snake appeared. So the snake grabbed the sixth place. Then, the sheep, the monkey and the chicken sat on the raft and reached the shore. Three decisions gave the eighth place to the sheep. Then there are monkeys and chickens. However, dogs are good at swimming, but after playing in the water for too long, they only won the eleventh place. The last pig won by luck.

Just as the Jade Emperor solemnly announced: "The ranking of the 12 Zodiacs is: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken …", the drowning kitten arrived in confusion: "What about me? What about me? Where did I come from? "

The jade emperor told it that it was getting late and the game was over. At this time, the kitten was so angry that she thought the mouse didn't mean to call it, so she stretched out her claws to catch it.

Mouse, who used to be a good friend, won the first place in the zodiac, but since then he has lived a life of fear that the cat will seek revenge from him at any time. Therefore, whenever I meet a cat, I will run around desperately, even hiding in a hole in the wall or ceiling, afraid to move freely.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Zodiac