For the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac must be very familiar to everyone, and around the people in all shapes and sizes, the genus also covers the circle of friends around, although the order of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac as well, but for the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac for each animal's origins, or each animal's story must not be very clear it! Then the following for you to reveal it!
The origin of each animal of the 12 Chinese zodiac
On the origin of each animal of the 12 Chinese zodiac there is such a legend: Legend has it that a long time ago, the Jade Emperor in heaven in order to allow human beings can be very good management of time, in order to allow human beings to have a full concept of time and belonging to the time, decided to hold a race for the selection of animals in the folk selected twelve animals as the twelve animals. The Jade Emperor decided to hold an animal selection contest, in which twelve animals were selected as the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, which were designated as the twelve hours of the day.
It is said that the folk animals want to compete for the title of King of Animals, so there were many animals to participate in the enrollment, until the day of the beasts of prey, because the rat is the earliest to arrive, so the rat was designated as the first place, as the "son of the rat", followed by the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, and so on, and the pig is the laziest, and the last one to arrive, so the pig ranked last! The pig was the laziest and the last to arrive, so the pig ranked last and became the "Ohio Pig".
12 Zodiac animal stories
1, the origin of the mouse
Mice like to go out in the dead of night, especially like to come out of the night time activities, so it is called the mouse.
2, the origin of the ugly cow
In ancient times, cows were used to plow the fields, do hard work, so every ugly time, farmers will get up to feed their cattle, so that the cattle work better, so it is called the ugly cow.
3, the origin of the tiger
Tiger is the king of beasts, vicious, favorite shuttle between day and night rampage, so it is called "Tiger".
4, the origin of the rabbit
Dawson is the time when the sky is just bright, this time the rabbit likes to go out to eat grass, so it is called "rabbit", which is one of the origins of each of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac.
5, the origin of the Dragon
Chen time is the time of fog, rumor has it that the dragon likes to fly in the fog, so it is called "Dragon".
6, the origin of the snake
Si time is the sky when the sun shines high in the sky, this time the snake likes to come out to walk around, so it is called "Si Snake".
7, the origin of the afternoon horse
Midday is the sun is the most intense, the sun in the sky, and our horse's personality is the most intense, so it is called "afternoon horse".
8, the origin of the unsheep
The time of the sun is gradually sinking in the west, it is the best time to let the sheep, so it is called "unsheep", is one of the origin of each animal of the 12 zodiac.
9, the origin of the Shen monkey
Shen time the sun has gone down in the west, this is the time when monkeys play, so it is called "Shen monkey".
10, the origin of the You chicken
You time is the sun has gone down, when it is dark, this time all the chickens have to go back to the chicken coop, so it is called "You chicken".
11, the origin of the 11th dog
The 11th hour is late at night, this is the time when the dog is the last patrol before going to bed, so it is called "the 11th dog".
12, the origin of the Ohio pig
Ohio time, the pig sleeps the most fragrant and heavy, so it is called "Ohio pig", is one of the 12 zodiac animals of each origin.
Legendary Stories of the Origin of the Chinese Zodiac
The term "phases" is also known as "signs of the zodiac". It is a group of twelve animals used by some peoples in China and Asia to represent the year and the year of a person's birth. The cycle of the Chinese zodiac is 12 years. Each person in his birth year has an animal as the Chinese zodiac. The twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac, i.e. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig, are assigned to the twelve Earthly Branches in turn, which is the Chinese folk method of calculating age and an ancient method of chronology, and is also known as the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac. The following is the origin of the twelve Chinese zodiac legend story, welcome to read.
As an ancient folk cultural phenomenon, about the origin of the zodiac, scholars through the ages have different opinions. At present, there are a variety of speculations and claims about the origin of the Chinese zodiac.
First, said the Earth's branches
Some people believe that the Chinese zodiac and the Earth's branches of the same origin, can be traced back to the prehistoric legend of the era, the "Records of the Grand Historian" contained in the Yellow Emperor "to build the first year of life", "big scratch for the first year of life," is a reflection of this type of statement, scholars think that the first year is the year that is referred to here is the year that is referred to here. The scholars believe that the A Zi here refers to the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.
Speaking of the origin of the Chinese zodiac, it is necessary to link the Chinese zodiac with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. According to historical records and research to prove that the Chinese Zodiac is following the "stem and branch chronology" after the creation of the emergence of the twelve animals is the twelve Earthly Branches of the one-to-one correspondence to the animals for the Earth's branch symbols. People born in which year will have which year's Earthly Branches are matched with the animals, and thus the twelve animals are used for the chronology of the year, the date, and the calculation of the phases of each person. From this, we can see that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are inseparable from the twelve earthly branches.
For a long time, some scholars found that the ancient characters of the twelve branches of the Chinese zodiac implied the information of the Chinese zodiac, and they compared the twelve branches of the Chinese zodiac with the ancient characters, and found that the ancient characters of the twelve branches of the Chinese zodiac had some connections with the twelve kinds of animals. A closer look reveals that there are indeed similarities and differences. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Shuowen Jiezi", that is to say, "has" for the snake's hieroglyphic character, the same has "Ohio", "boar". Recently, people have also proved that the oracle bone inscriptions, gold inscriptions in the Chinese character and the Chinese zodiac characters have similarities, one would guess that the twelve branches is the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac hieroglyphic characters, due to the twelve branches of the Zi-Ug-Yin-Mao easy to remember mixed up, the folk will be used in place of the twelve kinds of animals to animals to borrow the ordinal symbols, and the Earth's branches to match the symbols of the system of the chronicle.
Second, the hour said
It is also believed that the twelve signs of the zodiac first appeared in the timekeeping. A day and night is twenty-four hours, ancient astronomers will be divided into twelve hours of day and night. At the same time they were watching the sky, in accordance with the habits of the twelve animals and activities of the hour, to determine the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.
Eleven o'clock at night to one o'clock in the morning of the next day, belonging to the son of the time, it is the mouse to take advantage of the quiet of the night, frequent activities, called "son of the rat". One o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the morning, is the ugly time. Cattle are used to eating grass at night, farmers often get up late at night to pick a lamp to feed the cattle, so it is called "ugly cattle". From 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., it is the c time. At this time, the tiger that walks by day and by night is the most ferocious, and the ancients often heard the sound of the tiger whistling at this time, so it is called "Yin Tiger". From 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., it is the dawning of the year. The day just dawned, the rabbit out of the nest, like to eat grass with morning dew, so the "d rabbit".
From seven to nine in the morning, it is the hour of the moon. This time is generally prone to fog, legend has it that the dragon like clouds and fog, but also at the time of the rising sun, steam, so it is called "Dragon". Nine o'clock in the morning to eleven o'clock, is the sixth hour. Fog dispersed, the sun shines brightly, snakes out of their holes to feed, so the "Snake". Eleven to one at noon, is the noon. In ancient times, wild horses were not tamed by humans, when the noon, running around neighing, so called "noon horse". One to three o'clock in the afternoon, is not time. Some places tube at this time for the "sheep out of the slope", meaning a good time to let go of sheep, it is called "not sheep".
Three to five o'clock in the afternoon, is the Shen time. The sun is in the west, monkeys like to cry at this time, so the "Shen monkey". From five to seven in the afternoon, is the time of the year. When the sun goes down, the chickens are circling in front of their nests, so it is called "You Ji". From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the evening, it is the 11th hour. People are ready to rest after a long day's labor and bolt the door. The dog lying in front of the door to guard, a movement, barking, so "Hundred Days". At night from nine to eleven o'clock, belongs to the Ohio time. In the dead of night, you can hear the sound of the pig arching in the trough, so it is called "Ohio pig".
In this way, the hours of the day and animal collocation is arranged down: Zi Mouse, ugly cattle, Yin Hu, Mao Rabbit, chenlong, Si Snake, afternoon horse, ungoat, Shen Monkey, You chicken, Hundred Days Dog, Ohio Pig. Later, people used this chronology for the chronology, there are twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.
Third, nature said
Twelve animals with twelve hours, there is another argument.
It is said that heaven and earth generated in the son of time, the birth of the beginning, there is no gap, the gas can not run out, the material can not be utilized, by the mouse a bite, out of the gap, only to make the gas to run out, the material will be able to use. Rats have the power to open the celestial body, the son of the time is a rat.
The rat opened the seam of heaven and earth, the cow will come out to plow in the ground, so the ugly time belongs to the cow. Legend has it that people are born in Yin, "Yin" word has the meaning of fear, ancient people are most afraid of tigers, Yin time is a tiger. The dawn was already in the morning, but the sun had not yet come out, and it was the moon that illuminated the earth, and the only animal in the moon palace was the "Jade Rabbit", so the dawn was the rabbit. Legend has it that the hour of the Dragon is the time when dragons walk in the rain, so naturally this time belongs to the Dragon. Snakes are good at using grass to hide their tracks, it is said that the snake is not walking on the road at six o'clock, can not hurt people, so six o'clock belongs to the snake. At noon, Yang Qi reached the limit, Yin just want to produce, the horse can not run away from the ground, is a Yin class animals, so the afternoon is a horse. Legend has it that the sheep ate the grass before the time, and does not affect the regeneration of grass, before the time of the sheep. Shen has the meaning of "stretch", and monkeys are best at stretching and climbing, so Shen time is a monkey. Chickens begin to return to their nests at 5:00 p.m., so this is the time for chickens. Hundred and eleventh day gradually dark, the dog began to "work", watch the door guard, this time belongs to the dog. Ohio has entered the night, everything is silent, heaven and earth chaos, and the pig and heaven and earth chaos, in addition to "eat" nothing to know, Ohio naturally belongs to the pig.
Fourth, the Chinese said
On the record of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, the existing literature, to the "Classic of Poetry" for the earliest. The first record of the Chinese zodiac is the Poetry Classic. Xiao Ya? Auspicious day" has: "auspicious day gengwu, that is, poor my horse" eight words, meaning gengwu auspicious day time is good, is a good day to jump out of the horse hunting, this is an example of noon and the horse corresponds to. It can be seen in the Spring and Autumn period, the Earth's branches and the twelve animal correspondences have been established and circulated.
During December 1975, thousands of bamboo slips were found in the excavated artifacts of the 11th Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land, Yunmeng, Hubei. Among them, "Sunrise? The Thief" clearly records the use of the Chinese zodiac to divine the appearance and characteristics of thieves, which reads: "Zi, the rat is also, the thief against the mouth Xisu, ? The ugly ox is a thief with a big nose and a long neck, and the tiger is a thief with a big nose and a long neck. C, the tiger is also, the thief like, Xisu, face with black. D, the rabbit, a thief with a big head. The man who steals is green and red in color, and the man who steals is long and red in color, and the man who steals is long and red in color. The bug is long and has black snake eyes. The deer is long-necked and small, and its body is incomplete. The thief has long whiskers and ears. The ring is also a round face of the thief."
"Day Book" recorded in the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac is largely similar to the current popular saying. According to evidence, sleeping tiger ground eleven tomb buried in the first emperor of Qin thirty years (217 BC), so the twelve signs of the zodiac can be traced back to at least Qin before the Spring and Autumn period. Scholars believe that this is so far, found in our country on the zodiac's earliest and more systematic records.
Legend has it that replacing the twelve Earthly Branches with twelve animals to represent the twelve lunar seasons was the work of Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty. And today's popular zodiac statement is completely consistent with the records of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong, Wang Chong "on the balance? The potential of things" contained: "Yin, wood, and its birds, the tiger. Eleventh, the earth, its birds, dogs. Afternoon, the horse. Zi, rat, You, chicken. D, rabbit. Hai, the boar. Un, sheep. Ugly, ox. Already, so is the snake. Shen, the monkey." In the above text, eleven of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are talked about, only the Dragon is missing. The book "Words of Poison" says: "The Dragon is the Dragon, and the Snake is the Snake. Tatsu, has the position in the southeast."
In this way, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac will be all together, and with today's popular twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac is identical, which is indeed considered to be an ancient document on the Chinese zodiac of the earlier most complete records.
By the North and South Dynasties, the twelve signs of the zodiac were in common use. The Northern History "Yuwen Gu biography" recorded Yuwen Gu's mother wrote him a letter, the content is: "In the past in the town of Wuchuan born your brother, the eldest is a rat, the second is a rabbit, your body is a snake." This can be seen at that time the folk have been commonly used to record the birth year of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. Southern Dynasty "Southern Qi Book? Wuxing Zhi" has been specific according to the person's birth year called belonging to a certain animal records. The Southern Dynasties? Chen? Shen Jiong, a poet, wrote a poem about the twelve phases of the genus, which says:
The mouse traces dusty cases, oxen and sheep down in the twilight.
Tiger feeding sitting in the valley, rabbit moon to the window.
The dragon is far away from the green mountains, the snake is near the willow wandering.
The horse's orchid is far away, and the sheep's negative is planted in the spring.
The monkey's chestnut is a shame, and the chicken's anvil leads to a clear cup.
The dog's heart is in the right place, and the pig's eyes are in the wrong place.
This poem of the twelve phases of the Chinese zodiac is obviously written in the order of the animals associated with the twelve earthly branches, indicating that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac at that time were already very familiar to the people.
V. Worship
Some scholars believe that the Chinese zodiac originated in the primitive era of animal worship, the University of Science and Technology of China, Mr. Zhang Binglun held this view. He believes that in the primitive society, low productivity, the ability to understand nature is extremely limited, and their own life is closely related to the animals to produce a sense of dependence (such as horses, sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, etc.), to endanger their own safety of animals to produce a sense of fear (such as tigers, snakes), some more than the function of human organs of the animals to produce a sense of respect (such as the dog's sense of smell, etc.), resulting in the creation of the cult of the animals. Twelve animals are people in the animal worship of the primitive beliefs produced under the influence of the animal calendar used to chronicle the year, the month of the animal calendar.
The animal worship of primitive people also manifested in the Nuo dance and other primitive dance, Nuo about the Zhou Dynasty, before and after the Nuo ceremony in the protagonist is the square phase of the twelve beasts. Drive Nuo dance selected twelve beasts, is the performance of primitive people on the animal reverence psychology. Nuo ceremony selected twelve beasts (or twelve gods) is to illuminate the twelve months of the year, in order to seek peace and security, to drive out the four sides of the epidemic ghosts, according to the twelve directions. The twelve directions of course involved in the care of the twelve branches, and then linked to the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, the twelve phases of the exorcism ceremony in the twelve genus was sent to meet the evil and turn it into good luck. It can be seen that the twelve beasts, the twelve signs of the zodiac is a lineage, they *** with the same source is the primitive animal worship.
Six, the beast calendar said
Mr. Liu Yao Han, an ethnographer, believes that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac with the Yi "twelve beasts" and "October Calendar" method. The Yi ethnic group living in the Daliang Mountain area of Sichuan Province, there are twelve beasts of the calendar, they are twelve animals, today is the day of the rat, tomorrow is the day of the ox, and so on three rounds of a month, counting thirty-six days, thirty-six days a month, a year will be ten months, which is the later "October Calendar" method.
Mr. Liu Yao Han that the twelve phases of the October Calendar was produced in the Xia Yu era, (see Liu Yao Han's "collection of research on the social history of the Yi people") and the primitive totem worship, the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac is affected by the "October Calendar", the twelve beasts of the Yi calendar was later developed for the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac.
Seven, said the Northwest
Some scholars believe that the Chinese Zodiac first originated in China's ancient western and northern ethnic minorities engaged in nomadic herding. The Tang Book: "Crafty country to twelve things to chronicle the year, such as the year in the Yin, is said to be the year of the tiger." The famous Qing dynasty scholar Zhao Yi in the "new series of exams" in the test cloud: "Benefit from the North Dixie common no matter what the child, ugly, c, d of the twelve epochs, but the rat, cow, tiger, rabbit and so on subdivided into chronological age, to the Han Dynasty Hohanxie (mono) paragraph Sai Habitat five plains, mixed with the Qi people, soak seeking to pass on in China, and then along the abolition of the ear."
Eight, outside to say
Some scholars hold the view that the zodiac outside to say that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac is imported into China from ancient Babylon, hold this view on behalf of Guo Moruo, who is in the "Oracle Bone Character Study? Interpretation of the branch stem" said "twelve zodiac signs in Babylon, Egypt, India have, but are not very ancient, no out of the Western Era after more than 100 years. Meaning that the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Western countries, imitating the Babylonian twelve and formulated, and then spread to the surrounding also." That the zodiac for the Middle East residents imitated the Babylonian zodiac and the development of its introduction to China when the time, when the Han emperor through the Western region.
In addition, the Buddhist scripture "The Great Collection of Sutras" recorded the story of the twelve signs of the zodiac parade in turn, but there is no tiger but there is a lion, so some people believe that the twelve signs of the zodiac was introduced to China from ancient India, the tiger instead of the lion, may be related to the Central Plains do not produce lions.
12 Zodiac sort of legend
How to choose the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, which is a people throughout the ages, the legend says that there is a year, the Jade Emperor's birthday, ordered all the animals in the first nine days of the month to come to wish a good day, and resolved to come to congratulate the birthday of the signing of the order of the twelve animals selected as a way to heaven! The road guards, and by the year on duty in turn.
So he sent the gods down with the animals said this matter, and set the moment in the d year d month d day d time to the Palace of Heaven to campaign, the earlier the row of the more forward, after the row can not. And at that time the cat and the mouse are still good friends. The cat loved to sleep but he also wanted to be elected, so he told the mouse to call him then. But the mouse forgot as soon as he turned back. The mouse went to the old cow and told him that he got up early and ran fast and asked the cow to take him then. The ox promised. In those days the dragon had no horns, and the chicken had horns. The dragon told the chicken that the chicken was already very beautiful and didn't need any horns, and asked the chicken to borrow him. The chicken was so happy to hear the dragon's flattery that he lent him his horns and told the dragon to remember to return them to him on time after the campaign. The dragon promised to do so. The rat sat on the back of the ox. After arriving at the Heavenly Palace, the mouse jumped. Jade Emperor said the rat arrived the earliest, let the rat row first; old steak second; tiger also then arrived, row third; rabbit also arrived, row fourth; dragon came very late, but he is big, the Jade Emperor saw him at once, and look at him so beautiful, let him row fifth, but also said that his son row sixth, but the dragon is very despairing, because his son did not come today. At this time the snake at the back ran and said, "He is my godfather I rank sixth! I'm sixth!" Snake so ranked sixth; horse and sheep also arrived, both of them you let me I let you: horse brother you first, sheep brother you first, they pushed and pushed, the Jade Emperor to see them so polite, let them ranked seventh and eighth; Monkey would have been ranked more than thirty, but he jumped on his own, pulling the clouds in the sky jumped in front of the row of the ninth; and then chickens, dogs, and pigs were also selected in succession. After the game is over, the cat woke up, the mouse just went home to the cat chased all over the world? After the game is over the dragon came to the big seaside, see there are horns he is much more beautiful than ever, it is not ready to return the chicken. In order to avoid the chicken, he has since disappeared in the human world, and the chicken is very indignant so he has since then every day early in the morning to get up and shout at the sea: quickly return me! Give it back! The hen shouted, "Give it back! Give it back! And the chickens shouted: Give it back! The chickens also shouted: "Give it back!