What is the origin of the zodiac?

In ancient times, in order to let the poor remember the year of their birth, the simplest method of animal chronology was adopted, which was later called "Zodiac Year". (Zodiac: born; "Xiao" is the same kind.

The origin of the zodiac is very early. At the end of the Warring States period, the twelve zodiac signs have appeared in Qin bamboo slips of Sleeping Tiger Land and Fangmatan, which are similar to the later zodiac signs in terms of animal names and branch arrangement, and their usage methods and divination logic are also similar to those of the later zodiac signs.

It can be inferred that the twelve zodiac signs appearing in Qin bamboo slips of Sleeping Tiger Land and Fangmatan should be the embryonic form of the twelve zodiac signs of later generations. The zodiac calendar began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. A letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother is recorded in the Biography of Northern History Yuwen Hu, which says: "Your brother was born in Wuchuan Town. The first one is a mouse, the second one is a rabbit, and you are a snake." Explain the folk usage of 12 zodiac at that time.

According to China's ancient books, the ancient Central Plains originally used the "trunk-branch chronology method", that is, the 10 heavenly stem symbol was used for chronology. At the same time, there are also twelve kinds of animals that simply determine the year. By the Sui Dynasty, the calendar of the Central Plains had spread to the nomadic people in the northwest of China, and they only absorbed twelve kinds of animal chronologies. Therefore, it is recorded in the Book of the Tang Dynasty: "Tuoba Sinian is bounded by twelve things. If the year is cloudy, it is called the year of the tiger. " In addition, the History of the Song Dynasty, The Biography of Tubo, also records that when the Tubo leaders narrate, they take events as a chronology. As the saying goes, "Twelve old things belong to Japan, the Year of the Rabbit and the Year of the Horse". As Zhao Yi pointed out in the Qing Dynasty's "Examination of Jade Cong", "The ugliness of ugly children, at the beginning of the custom of covering the north, doesn't matter whether it is ugly or not, but in the next year, it was spread in China, so it didn't waste its ears." This explanation about the origin of 12 zodiac has been recognized by many people.

In addition, the story about the origin of 12 is as follows: Hong Xun's Miscellanies of Yanggu says that the odd-numbered earthly branches of 12 are also equipped with odd-numbered fingers or hooves of animals. If the child is in the first place, the matching mouse is 5 fingers, and if the ground branch is even, the name is even, such as cow, ugly and so on. Ye Shijie explained the origin of Cao Zhong 12 Zodiac as follows: the surgeon matched 12 with 12, and each Xiao had its own shortcomings, such as rats without teeth (no molars), cows without teeth (no fangs), tigers without spleen, rabbits without lips, dragons without ears, snakes without feet and so on.

Liu Xian's Yang Guang Miscellaneous Notes in Qing Dynasty quoted Li Changqing's superficial remarks about Matsushita Pavilion: "Why is A Zi a mouse?" Yue: Born in the child, it will not open until it dies. Rats eat insects. Therefore, in night is still young, positive mice have to wait, so children belong to mice. The ground is ugly, and the cow opens the ground, so ugliness belongs to the cow. If born in yin, if born, kill. Murderer, tiger, Yin people, fear. If you are awesome, you are a tiger, then Yin is a tiger. Offender, sunrise. In vitro, it contains the essence of Taiyin Jade Rabbit, so it is a rabbit. The morning of divination in March is when the dragon rains, so the morning belongs to the dragon. The last person, divination in April, was lush and the snake was in its place. Also, when a snake is not on the road, it is a snake. At noon, the sun is born, and the sun is born. Horses are healthy, never leave the ground, and belong to the shade, so they belong to horses in the afternoon. Sheep are not sheep, because they grow by biting untimely grass. When applying, the ape crowed in the sunset, and his arms were stretched out. By analogy, chaos runs rampant, so the application belongs to monkeys. This person, when the moon comes out, is the body of the moon, and water is the essence of the sun golden rooster, so it belongs to the chicken. When night falls, it's time. Dogs are vigil animals, and when they are with them, they become dogs. In the nucleus, pigs know nothing but food, so the sea is a pig. The article clearly points out: silver moon is a tiger, and this is January; The moon is a dragon, that is, March and so on.

There are other kinds of sayings. For example, the Yellow Emperor should choose 12 kinds of animals to be on duty in the sky on time. Through the competition, rats, cows, tigers and other 12 animals were selected. 12 Zodiac originated from the totem worship of some clans in primitive society, and was divided according to the strength of each tribe at a meeting; 12 Zodiac may have been introduced by Tianzhu; Or 28 stars are distributed in a week or so, and the value is 12 hours. Each star is named after an animal. Choose a common animal on duty every hour as an agent for a certain year, and so on.

Although people can't determine the exact origin of the 12 zodiac, it has been used to this day because of its popularity, convenience and interest, and has become a valuable legacy with practical value left by the ancients.

With regard to the origin of the zodiac, historical records show that China began to use the "chronology of branches and leaves" which combines the ten heavenly stems with the twelve earthly branches from the Shun Di era.

The zodiac was first seen in The Book of Songs, the world's first collection of poems. "The Book of Songs Xiaoya Che Gong Pian" said: "It is an auspicious day, and it is a bad day." See also Book of Rites, Monthly Order and Winter Order: "Unearthed cattle send cold air".

When did the zodiac theory come into being? There is a historical cloud: it should be formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest. Its basis is the cloud in Wang Chong's On the Balance of Things in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Yin, wood, its birds, tigers. Hey, Tuye, its birds and dogs are also. " Another cloud said, "Good afternoon, Ma Ye. Son, mouse also. Unitary, chicken also. ..... Shen, Qitian also ". * * * Put forward the names of the zodiac. In addition, there is the "dragon in the morning" in Zhao Ye's "Wu Yue Chun Qiu". Just added "Chen Long" to complete the zodiac. It can be seen that the twelve zodiac signs were formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. As for the use of the Chinese zodiac, it appeared at least in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

However, in the mid-1970s, from 1975 to 12, thousands of bamboo slips were found in the cultural relics unearthed from Qin TombNo. 1 1 in Yunmeng, Hubei Province. Among them, Sunrise Thief clearly records the characters used to predict the appearance characteristics of thieves in the zodiac. The appearance of this miracle proves that the Chinese zodiac has been used in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because Qin Tomb No.11 was built in the thirty years of the first emperor, that is, 2 17 BC. Some people say that our ancestors used the zodiac to record the year long before Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor, and especially pointed out that "it began in summer and spread to Shang and Zhou Dynasties". However, how to quote it remains to be further explored by historians and cultural relics scholars. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties in ancient China, not only the zodiac chronology was used, but also twelve zodiac poems written by Shen Jiong appeared: The Case of Rat Dust and The Twilight of Cattle and Sheep. Tigers roared in the empty valley, and rabbits opened their windows. The dragon shadow is far green, and the snake willow lingers near. Ma Lanfang is far away and breeds sheep in spring. The monkey chestnut shames the fragrant fruit, and the chicken anvil attracts the clear bosom. The dog is outside, and the pig's window is leisurely. This poem embeds the names of the animals of the 12 Zodiac in the first letter in order, highlighting the natural characteristics of each animal and playing the role of finishing touch. The zodiac poems written by Hu Yan, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, are not only embedded in the names of the zodiac in turn, but also have a code name for each name, which is quite interesting. There is a poem that says, a mouse doesn't drink the river, and a cow and a girl can't see each other for many years. The rabbit grows longer in the middle of the month. Dragons with beads often don't sleep, and drawing snakes is very tiring. Has the old horse ever had horns, and the sheep angered the princes? Don't laugh at the Chu people's crown bathing monkeys, but wish the chickens were empty nests. Wuyang slaughtered dogs in Langzhong, and Ping Jin let Gou Haidong's head go. The first sentence "Zokor" is the water rat. The "cowgirl" in the second sentence is the legend of the folk cowherd and weaver girl. The five "jackals" are a kind of dragons, and there is a treasure under the chin, so they are called jackals. In the eight sentences, "lick the sheep" is a ram, and "touch the fan" is a corner touching the fence. "Five Sheep and Eleven Sentences" refers to Fan Kuai, a famous player of Liu Bang in Gao Han, who once made a living by killing dogs in Pei County, Jiangsu Province. The last sentence refers to the Prime Minister Gong of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who once spared pigs in the East China Sea. The origin and legend of the zodiac According to the literature, there were twelve earthly branches in the era of the Yellow Emperor, which were related to the twelve constellations such as Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. There is a mistake here. According to textual research, the twelve constellations were first introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty, as evidenced by Dunhuang murals; It was not until the Song Dynasty that it spread between the imperial court and scholars. See the new edition of Common Sense of Ancient Culture in China. ], the earliest twelve earthly branches and twelve constellations represent twelve different months and festivals every year. Ten characters, such as A, B, C and D, were invented in the Shang Dynasty. Later, people who studied numerology called it heavenly stem, which was used in combination with earthly branches, such as Jia Zi and E Yuan, to calculate the year, month, day and time. According to legend, it is a masterpiece of Dong Fangshuo in Han Dynasty that twelve kinds of animals are used instead of twelve earthly branches to represent the twelve-month season. In Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is a clear record in Yan Dou. He mentioned the names of twelve animals. According to the zodiac, the year also began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhao Yi's Textual Research on Yu Yu in Qing Dynasty also pointed out this historical fact. As for why twelve animals are chosen as symbols, it may be related to totems at the earliest. In ancient times, all tribes would choose an animal that they were particularly afraid of or loved, and take its pattern as the symbol of their tribe.

2 Implicit editing

China's zodiac signs are opposite to each other, and they are the six divisions in the wheel of destiny, which embodies all the expectations and demands of our ancestors for China people.

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 rigidity is easy to break, too rigid is easy to break, but if there is only a soft side, it 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 go straight to the goal, while sheep represent harmony. If a person only cares about himself and goes straight to the goal, regardless of the surrounding environment, he will inevitably bump into the surrounding environment and may not be able to achieve his goal in the end. But if a person is condescending and integrated with his surroundings, he will lose his direction and goal. Therefore, indomitable nature must be closely combined with harmony.

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.

3 the origin of the zodiac pig editor

In ancient times, there was a gentleman who was rich and prolific and had no children under his knees. Who knows that when I was near the flower, I got a son. The family is happy, relatives and friends * * *, and there is a big banquet outside to celebrate the successors.

On the occasion of the holidays, a fortune teller came to see the child. When he saw the child's forehead was wide, his face was big, his ears were wide, his wheels were round, his heaven was full, and he was fat in vain. He asserted that the child must be a rich man.

The fat boy was born in happiness and grew up in happiness. From an early age, he only knew how to reach for clothes, how to make a living, how to make a living and how to farm. He just idles around, thinking that his fate is set and he is extremely rich, so he doesn't have to work hard. I didn't know that when children grew up, their parents died, their wealth declined, their land was sold, and their servants were scattered. The fat boy continued to spend money like water until he finally starved to death in his room. After his death, the fat boy still lingered on, complaining to the underworld, saying that he was born rich and could not die so miserably. Yan took the ghost to the jade emperor in heaven and asked him to arbitrate. The jade emperor called the kitchen god on earth. When asked how the man with a rich face starved to death in the room, the chef released the fat boy from his study and research. When the Jade Emperor heard this, he was furious and told the officers to obey the order and told Fat Boy to wait for his life. The Jade Emperor said, "Although you are lucky, you are lazy, so you are punished as a pig to eat coarse chaff." This period of time coincides with the choice of the zodiac in Tiangong. The official in this heavenly palace listened to "eating coarse chaff" as "being a zodiac". Immediately put the fat man back to reality. From then on, the fat man became a pig and ate coarse chaff, which became the zodiac.

Pigs have become the zodiac by their own efforts. On the day when the Twelve Zodiacs were arranged in the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor stipulated that they must arrive at the Heavenly Palace at a certain time, and regarded the first twelve Zodiacs as the twelve Zodiacs. Knowing that he was stupid and walked slowly, the pig got up in the middle of the night and hurried to queue up to do the zodiac. Because of the distance and many obstacles, the pig climbed to the Nantianmen very hard, but the time for arranging the twelve zodiac animals has passed, but the pig begged, and the other five animals also begged. Finally, he moved his mind and put the pig into the worse gate, becoming the last zodiac sign. In this way, horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs have all become human zodiac signs.