Zodiac generally refers to the zodiac (China folk culture)
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.
The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship. According to the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Shuihudi, Hubei Province and Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, there was a relatively complete zodiac system in the pre-Qin period. The earliest handed down document that recorded the same Chinese zodiac as the modern one was Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The zodiac is an intuitive representation of the twelve earthly branches, namely, Zi (mouse), Ugly (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei (sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken) and Xu (chicken). In modern times, more people regard the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of entertainment and cultural activities.
As a long-standing symbol of folk culture, the zodiac has left a lot of poems, Spring Festival couplets, paintings, calligraphy and paintings and folk arts and crafts that depict the image and symbolic meaning of the zodiac. Apart from China, many countries in the world issue stamps of the zodiac during the Spring Festival to express their wishes for the New Year in China.
The zodiac is twelve, which coincides with the ancient people's inductive understanding of natural phenomena.
China ancestors felt the cycle of alternating cold and summer, and plants withered and flourished, which was called "one year old". The moon's profit and loss cycle is also related to "age"-twelve full moons are exactly one year old. With Jupiter as the annual cycle, the period of revolution of the "old star" happens to be twelve years. "Zhou Li? Guan Chun? Feng said, "Ten palms are two years old, ten palms are February, and ten palms are two days. "In addition to calculating years and months, twelve palms are also used to measure hours.
Twelve is also often used in other aspects. Zuozhuan? In "Seven Years of Mourning for the Public", Zhou Wang also did things in the world, but there were only twelve. "I thought there were many days." "Mandarin? In this fourth world, it is recorded that "the Yellow Emperor has twenty-five sons, and fourteen sons have surnames, which are twelve surnames." Used to be "? Gou Jian said, "Therefore, the son of heaven married twelve women, and the number of days was also. There is an equal difference under the vassal. "
folk story
Xuanyuan Huangdi wanted to choose twelve kinds of animals as court guards, and the cat asked the mouse to sign up. As a result, the mouse forgot, and since then, the cat has been seeking revenge when it sees the mouse. Originally, the cow pushed first, and the mouse sneaked up the cow's back and took the lead. Not convinced, the tiger and dragon were named as mountain gods and sea gods, ranking behind cattle. The rabbit refused to accept it and wanted to race the dragon. The rabbit ran in front of the dragon. The dog was so angry that he didn't want to bite the rabbit that he was finally punished. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens also went through some contests, and finally pigs came to occupy the last position.
This legend also explains why there are no cats in the zodiac. In fact, there were no cats in ancient China, and the zodiac was formed when domestic cats were introduced to China. This legend, which is similar to children's stories, is far from a scientific explanation of the problem.