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In people's eyes, many animals, even plants, are no longer simple animals or plants, but have different rich and profound symbolic meanings, especially as animals in the

In people's eyes, many animals, even plants, are no longer simple animals or plants, but have different rich and profound symbolic meanings, especially as animals in the zodiac, such as mighty tigers, hardworking cows, smart and lively monkeys, loyal and brave dogs, and so on. Similarly, the chicken in the zodiac also has its unique and profound symbolic significance.

Therefore, the most significant symbolic meaning of chicken is trustworthiness and punctuality. The cock crows at dawn, which means that the sky will be bright. Further extension symbolizes the liberation from darkness to light. For example, "the cock crows, it is dawn, and it is liberated" is such a symbolic meaning of progress.

For the ancients, it was very important for chickens to watch the night to announce the dawn. The ancient timing tools were very simple, such as a leaky kettle. Although it could time, it was impossible to wake people up on time, and there was no later alarm clock. Sleepers don't know what time it is. At this time, the golden rooster announced the dawn and told people that it was almost dawn and they had to get up and get ready for work. People often say "work at sunrise and rest at sunset", but you can't wait until sunrise to get up. Moreover, the sun does not come out every day, and rainy weather loses the basis for observing the sun to set the time. And chickens, whether it is hot or cold, whether it is sunny or snowy, keep their promises and never slack off. It can be said that it is precisely because of the difficulty of dawn crowing that fireworks and a vibrant new day began to appear on the earth.

The second symbolic meaning of chicken is ordinary and weak.

Chickens can be found almost everywhere in daily life. Strong reproductive ability, high survival rate, no special requirements for the environment, and can be raised anywhere. As the saying goes, things are rare. The same is true of animals, such as pandas, which are very rare and precious, and are regarded as national treasures because only China has them. Although some animals are not national treasures, they are too few to be extinct, so it is forbidden to kill and protect them as rare animals. It is impossible for chickens to enjoy such treatment. There are so many of them that they are despised. Moreover, as a kind of bird, the flying ability of chicken is greatly degraded. Compared with other birds, they can fly freely in the blue sky; Running on the ground is not as fast and agile as riding a dog, so chickens look ordinary. Therefore, it has the symbolic significance of being ordinary, popular and weak.

Chickens are common. They are busy all day, looking for food everywhere and pecking at the west. Hard as they are, they are far from comfortable. This ordinary characteristic of chicken is also used to describe the similar fate of human beings, and it is called "life of chicken chops", which means that this person is busy, like a chicken pecking at the west, and finally can only talk about food and clothing, and it is impossible to enjoy precious prosperity. There is a story that once a rich man asked someone to measure his life. As a result, the rich man's life is not easy, just a "chicken steak life." However, Mr. Wang said that the rich people live in a good place, because they live in Gucheng (Gucheng County, Hubei Province), and chickens are scraped everywhere in Gucheng, so naturally they have food and clothing, so the rich can enjoy the preciousness. The rich man said, isn't he poor if he doesn't live in the ancient city? What Mr. Wang said is true. I don't want the rich man not to believe what Mr. Wang said, thinking: Is it necessary to be poor when moving out of the ancient city? So his family moved to another county, gradually declined in a few years, and finally lived in poverty. This is just a folk story, which may not be true, but it contains the symbolic meaning of ordinary chickens.

Compared with the weak and ordinary, the chicken also has the symbolic significance of courage and fighting.

This meaning comes from cockfighting. Chickens like fighting, especially cocks, which is also a common phenomenon in daily life. When two cocks meet, they often have a fight, and occasionally there will be a ground battle between hens.

In order to watch the wonderful cockfighting, people raise special cockfighting. Usually ordinary weak chickens, once they fight, are also nervous, brave and tenacious, and fight fiercely. People are also inspired and encouraged, and learn to be brave and good at cockfighting. This is an example of ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks had cockfighting competitions very early. In one year BC, a Greek general led his troops to the front to fight the Persian army. On the March, he saw two cocks fighting, and his heart couldn't help moving. He believes that if the soldiers' fighting spirit is as tenacious as this rooster, they will surely win the coming battle. So he ordered the team to stop and let the soldiers watch the brave struggle between the two cocks. Sure enough, the soldiers were encouraged to fight bravely and defeated the country. Commemorate this glorious victory. The king of Greece decided to hold the annual cockfighting meeting in Athens from now on. Cockfighting activities soon spread throughout Greece, and soon spread to Mediterranean countries, ancient Rome and other countries. The victory of the Greek army proves that "both armies are brave when they meet", but "bravery" is inspired by cockfighting, which shows that chickens are not always weak.

The fourth symbolic meaning of chicken is to ward off evil spirits, eliminate disasters and respect God.

There are chickens everywhere, and chicken cages have the meaning of gods. The ancients also used chicken sacrifices. A technique of killing chickens and exorcising ghosts. As early as the pre-Qin period, chicken and chicken blood were used to exorcise ghosts. The ancients believed that chicken and chicken blood had the functions of exorcising ghosts and evil spirits and eliminating disasters.

The ancients attached great importance to sacrifice. Among many sacrifices, chicken is one of them. Sacrificing ancestors with chickens is still popular in some areas.

Chickens are also used to judge cases. Jingpo people use cock crow as a way of divine judgment. Both parties to the dispute bring a live rooster to the agreed place. First, the wizard chanted the scriptures, and after the chicken was finished, the two sides sang in accordance with the agreement to decide the outcome. The first caller loses, and the last caller or non-caller wins.

In a word, chicken also has its unique symbolic meaning, and people deduce and associate its symbolic meaning from its animal characteristics. Like the symbolic meaning of other animals, there are praises and denials, depending on their different contexts and occasions.