Animals in the Chinese Zodiac

Let me tell you a long joke about the twelve zodiac signs, which can be regarded as a kind of myth and legend, and then I will tell you its origin

The Jade Emperor wanted to choose He selected 12 kinds of animals as representatives, and then he sent gods down to earth to tell the animals about this matter. He also set a time to come to the Heavenly Palace to run for election in the year, month, month, day, and hour. At that time, the cat and the mouse were still good friends. The cat loved to sleep, but he also wanted to be selected, so he asked the mouse to call him when the time came. But the mouse turned around and forgot. The mouse went to find the old cow and said that he got up early and ran faster. When the time came to call the cow, he would take him. The old cow agreed.

At that time, the dragon did not have horns and the chicken had horns. The dragon told the chicken that the chicken was already very beautiful and did not need the horns. The chicken asked the chicken to lend him the chicken. After hearing the flattery of the dragon, he was very happy to borrow it and asked him to remember to return it on time after the election. The dragon promised

At the time of the month, day and day of the month of the year, all the animals rushed to the heavenly palace while the cat was still sleeping

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The mouse sat on the back of the cow until it reached the heaven. The mouse "rubbed" and jumped. The Jade Emperor said that he was the first to arrive and asked him to be ranked first. The old steak was ranked second. The tiger followed and the rabbit was ranked third. The rabbit also arrived and ranked fourth. Dragon. He came very late, but the Jade Emperor saw him at a glance. He asked him to come over to see how beautiful he was, so he was ranked fifth. He also said that his son should be ranked sixth. Kelong was very disappointed because his son did not come today. At this time, the snake behind him He came and said: He is my godfather and I am the sixth in line! I'm sixth! The snake just queued up to sixth place. The horse and the sheep also arrived. You let me and I let you: Brother Horse, you go first~~Brother Sheep, you go first~~The Jade Emperor, who was pushing them around, saw that they were so polite, so he let them go. The seventh and eighth monkey was originally ranked in the thirties, but because he could jump, he pulled the clouds in the sky and jumped to the front, ranking ninth. Then chickens, dogs and pigs were also selected.

After the competition The cat just woke up and the mouse was chased all over the world as soon as he came home. . .

After the competition, the dragon came to the seaside and saw that he had horns. He was much more beautiful than before and was not ready to return the chicken. In order to hide from the chicken, he disappeared from the human world. The chicken was very angry, so he never returned. From now on, I get up early every morning and shout to the sea: Give me back now! Give me back! The hen shouted: Pay him back quickly! Pay him back quickly! The chicken also cries: Return! return!

Okay, now that the story is over, let me tell you what you asked

Since the time of Emperor Shun, the country has been using the "ten symbols of the heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches" that match "Stem and branch chronology". The method of counting animals first originated from the nomadic ethnic minorities in the west and north of my country in ancient times. "Tang Shu" records: "The country of Xijiasi uses twelve objects to record the year. If the year is in Yin, it is called the Year of the Tiger." Zhao Yi, a famous textual research scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said in "Bei Yu Cong Kao": "Yibei Di In the early days of customs, there was no such thing as the twelve zodiac signs of Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao, but the years were divided into periods such as rat, ox, tiger, and rabbit. In the Han Dynasty, Hu Hanxie (Chanyu) lived in Wuyuan, together with the Qi people. The people are mixed together, and they have been spread throughout China, so they are still closely related."

The twelve zodiac animals were first seen in the "Book of Songs", the world's first collection of poems. "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Che Gong" says: "On the auspicious day of Gengwu, my horse is sent." It is also found in "Book of Rites·Yue Ling·Jidong": "The unearthed cow is used to send away the cold air." The theory of the twelve zodiac animals actually came into being. When? Some historical data say: it should have been formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest. The basis is the following in Wang Chong's "Lunheng·Mao Shi Chapter" of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Yin means wood, and its bird is a tiger. Xu means soil, and its bird is a dog." It also says: "Wu means horse. Zi, Rat. You, chicken. ... Shen, monkey." *** proposed eleven zodiac names. In addition, in the "Wuyue Chunqiu" written by Zhao Ye of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Wu Zaichen, his position is dragon." This just adds "Chenlong" to complete the twelve zodiac signs. It can be seen that the twelve zodiac signs have been formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. As for the use of the twelve zodiac signs, it has appeared at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Northern History's "Yuwen Hu Zhuan" records a letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother to him, which reads: "In the past, I gave birth to your brothers in Wuchuan Town. The older one was born in the year of rat, the second was in the year of rabbit, and you were born in the year of snake." This shows that at that time, the twelve zodiac signs were widely used among the people to record people's birth years.

However, in the mid-1970s, that is, in December 1975, thousands of bamboo slips were discovered among the cultural relics unearthed from Qin Tomb No. 11 in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei.

Among them, "Sunrise: Thief" clearly records the use of zodiac signs to predict the appearance and characteristics of thieves. The appearance of this miracle proves that the twelve zodiac signs were used in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because Qin Tomb No. 11 was buried in the 30th year of the First Emperor, that is, 217 BC, according to research. Some people say that our ancestors started using zodiac animals to record their years long before Qin Shihuang became emperor, and specifically pointed out that "it began in Xia and spread in Shang and Zhou dynasties." However, how to cite it is probably yet to be further explored by historians and cultural relics scholars.

In ancient my country, the Southern and Northern Dynasties not only used the twelve zodiac signs to record the year, but also appeared in the "Poetry of the Twelve Zodiac Signs" written by Shen Jiong:

The traces of rats create dust cases, and the cattle and sheep fall at dusk.

The tiger roars in the empty valley, and the rabbit moon opens towards the window.

The dragon's shadow is green in the distance, and the snakes and willows are lingering nearby.

Malan is picked far away, and sheep are planted in spring.

The monkey chestnut is shy of the fragrant fruit, and the chicken anvil brings happiness.

Outside the house where the dog is pregnant, there is a leisurely view outside the window.

This poem embeds the names of the twelve zodiac animals in order in the first word, and highlights the characteristics of each animal, which plays a finishing touch.

The twelve zodiac poems written by Hu Yan, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, not only embed the names of the zodiac animals in sequence, but also have one code for each, which is quite interesting. The poem goes like this:

The mice drink from the rivers and the rivers never dry up, and the cows and girls find it difficult to meet each other all year round.

Binding tigers in the southern mountains with bare hands, catching rabbits in the middle of the moon and the sky is endless.

Lilong Youzhu often doesn’t sleep, so he feels tired by adding unnecessary extravagance to the situation.

The old horse never had horns, and the sheep sneered when they touched the feudal lord.

Don’t laugh at the people of Chu who are crowned monkeys, and wish that the chickens will be empty in the old forest and Qiu.

Wuyang slaughtered dogs in Peizhong City, Pingjin released pigs in the east end of the sea.

The first sentence "mouse" means water rat. The "cow girl" in the second sentence refers to the folk legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The "Lilong" in the five sentences is a type of dragon. There is a pearl under its chin, so it is called Lilong. The "sheep" in the eight sentences refers to the ram, and "touching the fan" means that the horns of the sheep touch the fence. The eleventh sentence "Wu Yang" refers to the title of Wuyang Marquis by Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty. Fan Kuai once made a living by killing dogs in Pei County, Jiangsu Province. The last sentence refers to Gongsun Hong, the prime minister of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who once let pigs off in the East China Sea.

The origins and legends of the twelve zodiac signs

According to documentary records, there were twelve earthly branches in the Huangdi era, which are related to the twelve constellations of Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer. , the earliest twelve earthly branches and twelve constellations represent twelve different months and seasons every year. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, ten characters for calculating and recording numbers, such as A, B, C, and D, were invented. Later, people who studied numerology called them the heavenly stems and used them in conjunction with the earthly branches, such as Jiazi, Yichou, etc., for Calculate the year, month, day, and hour.

According to legend, the use of twelve animals instead of the twelve earthly branches to represent the twelve months was a masterpiece of Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty. There is a clear record in the "Yan Du Chapter" of "Lunheng" written by Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He mentioned the names of twelve animals. The use of twelve zodiac animals to count years also started in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Bai Yu Cong Kao" written by Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty also pointed out this historical fact. As for why twelve animals were selected as symbols, it may have something to do with totems at the earliest. In ancient times, each tribe selected an animal that they were particularly afraid of or loved, and its pattern was used as the symbol of the tribe. "Yanggu Manquan" written by Hong Xun of the Song Dynasty and "Seven Revised Drafts" written by Lang Ying of the Ming Dynasty have all explained this. In addition, the Buddhist scripture "Taji Sutra" records the story of the twelve zodiac animals taking turns to parade, but there are no tigers but lions. Therefore, some people believe that the twelve zodiac animals were introduced to China from ancient India. The use of tigers instead of lions may be different from the Central Plains. Related to giving birth to lions.

Some people also believe that the twelve zodiac signs first appeared in timekeeping. There are twenty-four hours in a day and night, and ancient astronomers divided day and night into twelve hours. At the same time, when observing the sky, they determined the twelve zodiac signs according to the living habits and activity hours of the twelve animals. From 11 o'clock at night to 1 o'clock in the morning, the time of the child is when rats take advantage of the silence of the night and are active frequently, so they are called "rats". From one to three o'clock in the morning, it is the ugly time. Cows are accustomed to grazing at night, and farmers often get up late at night to feed the cows, so they are called "ugly cows." From three to five o'clock in the morning, it belongs to Yin hour. At this time, the tigers that roam day and night are the most ferocious. The ancients often heard the roar of tigers at this time, so it was called "Yin Tiger". From five o'clock to seven o'clock in the morning, it belongs to Mao hour.

After the twelve zodiac animals were selected and arranged in order, the Yellow Emperor ordered Cangjie, the creator of writing, to carve the names of the twelve animals on the stone tablets, which have been passed down to this day.