Where did the story of the zodiac come from?

Zodiac animals are different in nature, and ancient and modern scholars have always put forward many opinions on their selection and arrangement, but each view is difficult to justify.

Folk story theory

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 the cat missed the appointment. Since then, cats have sought revenge on mice. Originally, the cow was the first to push, but the mouse secretly climbed up the cow's back to take the lead. Not convinced, the tiger and dragon were named mountain gods and sea gods, ranking behind rats and cows. This time, the rabbit refused to accept it and wanted to race with the dragon. The rabbit ran in front of the dragon. The dog didn't like it, so he bit the rabbit in a rage and was sent to the bottom. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens also went through some competitions, and finally You Zhu took the last seat.

This legend also explains why there are no cats in the zodiac. In fact, there were no cats in ancient China. The hometown of domestic cats is in Sudan, Africa, and the Chinese zodiac was already formed when it reached China. This legend, which is similar to children's stories, is far from a scientific explanation of the problem.

Animal habit theory

Liu Xianyan's Miscellaneous Notes in Qing Dynasty quoted a superficial comment on Matsushita Pavilion: Why is 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. At the end of the day, the sun rises. 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. The reason why a sheep is not a sheep is that it has sprouted after eating untimely grass. When applying, the ape cries at sunset, and the arm is also applied. By analogy, chaos runs rampant, so the application belongs to monkeys. Unitary, the moon comes out, the moon is the body, containing the essence of the sun golden rooster, so it belongs to the chicken. When it is night, the dog is night, so it is a dog. When the sea and the world are chaotic, if all fruits are centered on business and pigs know nothing but food, then they are pigs.

This theory explains the relationship between earthly branches and Xiao beasts from the perspective of twelve o'clock in ancient times. Unfortunately, there is a congenital deficiency, because the Zodiac and the Zodiac were originally used to record the days and years, and the marking of time is the result of the expansion of the scope of use, and some explanations seem too far-fetched.

Yin-yang theory of five elements

In Ming Dynasty, Ye pointed out in "Caomuzi" that twelve kinds of animals were arranged because of physical defects.

"The craftsman matches twelve Xiao with twelve Chen, and each Xiao has its own shortcomings, such as rats without teeth, cows without teeth, tigers without spleen, lips without lips, dragons without ears, snakes without feet, horses without intestines, sheep without gods, monkeys without hips, chickens without kidneys, dogs without intestines, pigs without tendons, and people without shortcomings."

However, Lang Ying, a great scholar in Ming Dynasty, retorted in Seven Collations: "Ordinary things are more than twelve incomplete people?" He suggested that "there are branches under the ground", so don't look at the number of toes. A mouse has four paws on its front foot, with even numbers of yin, five paws on its back foot and odd numbers of yang. The first half of the child is the yin of last night, and the second half is the yang of today, just using mice to symbolize the child. The four claws of cattle, sheep, pig's trotters and chickens, plus the four claws of rabbits lacking lips and the tongue of snakes, should all be even, belonging to Yin, accounting for six. Tigers have five claws, dragon five has five claws, and monkeys and dogs have five claws. Horseshoe is round but not divided, all of them are odd numbers, belonging to Yang, plus the rats belonging to Yang, accounting for six branches.

It is not Lang Ying's original creation to explain the arrangement of the zodiac by the theory of Yin and Yang, and Hong Zao, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, once put forward a similar view in Niangu Miscellanies. Lang Ying also combined animal temperament with the theory of Yin and Yang, and concretized the reasons for sorting:

"If the child is a cathode, hide it in the dark and match the mouse; Rats hide their tracks. Afternoon is the anode, showing vitality. Match horses; This horse runs very fast. Ugliness is yin, condescending, and matching with cattle; Cows give birth to calves. Not for yang, but for courtesy, with sheep; Sheep have kneeling breasts. Yin is three yang, yang wins violence, and the tiger matches it; Tigers are violent. Shen is three yin, yin wins, and monkeys match it; Geye. The sun is born in the east, and there is a chicken in the west. The moon is born in the west and doesn't need the east. This means yin and yang, so it is the private door of the sun and the moon. Today, the rabbit licked its male hair and got pregnant. When the chickens walked together, they couldn't see. Both of them felt it, but they didn't pay. Therefore, You Mao is a sony pictures animation. Tatsumi rises and moves in the sun. Dragons thrive, followed by snakes, so dragons and snakes are in harmony. Dragon snake, a constantly changing thing. When the sea is silent, dogs stay up all night and pigs are calm, so dogs and pigs match. Dogs and pigs are also guarded. "

Buddhist theory

"Fayuan Zhu Lin" quoted Dajijing as saying: "Outside Jambu-Di^pa, there are twelve animals in Fanghai, which are bodhisattvas. Human nature is born, and the bodhisattva lives in the cave, which belongs to the protection of this beast, so the Han Dynasty followed this trip on the 12 th. " However, Buddhism was introduced into the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the zodiac was formed in the pre-Qin period, which was self-defeating.

The Chinese Zodiac, also known as the Chinese Zodiac, is the twelve animals that China matched the twelve earthly branches with the birth year of human beings, 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 Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land in Hubei Province and Fangmatan in Tianshui, Gansu Province, a relatively complete zodiac system existed as early as the pre-Qin period. The earliest handed down document that recorded the same Chinese zodiac as today 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 symbol of folk culture with a long history, the zodiac has left a large number of poems, Spring Festival couplets, paintings, calligraphy and paintings and folk arts and crafts depicting the image and symbolic significance of the zodiac throughout the ages. 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 origin of the zodiac

Ancient literature records have not solved the cultural origin of the zodiac, and scholars in ancient and modern times have been divided.

Twenty-eight star theory

The ancients divided the stars near the ecliptic and equator into 28 constellations, namely "28 stars". Twenty-eight nights also represent an animal In ancient China, Sunday was divided into twelve parts, represented by twelve branches, which were associated with the zodiac. Some people think that there is a correspondence between the zodiac and the twenty-eight stars. Wang Chang, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, believed that the pattern of "mother bat, fake grandson mouse, dangerous moon swallow and son also" was made up of 28 kinds of animals attached to 28 stars and "unified by seven evils". In Li Changqing's Song Xia Guan Yu Yan in the Qing Dynasty, he thought that the 28-lodging animals "even if the first 12 genera were doubled", "were attached to Kang Jinlong, Chen Guan and Jiao Mujiao. The sentence pattern of "Jiao, Long Ye" embodies the collection of 28 kinds of starry animals based on the zodiac. But there must be collateral encounters, because the animals in the 28 stars are recorded later than 12 zodiac animals.

Casual theory

Jupiter runs every twelve years, and the annual branching order can be determined from Jupiter's position. Yuhan Mountain House Collection records that every 12 years, "three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, drought", and "the world is six years old and one year old, six years old and twelve years old and hungry". There is a cycle between the rise and fall of plants and the living environment of animals, so that the living conditions of herbivores (rats, cows, horses and sheep) are quite different from those of carnivores and omnivores in different years. People think that "if people born in different years can imitate animals suitable for growth in that year, it will be beneficial to growth." Thus, the zodiac animals are formed, and it is inferred that the rise and fall of animals are related to the year of Jupiter, and the zodiac, ecliptic and ecliptic are unified.

Totem theory

In primitive society, ancestors often used some animals, plants, inanimate objects or some natural phenomena as the patron saint and symbol of this clan, that is, totems. The characters in Shan Hai Jing, such as human-faced horse, human-faced cow and human-faced sheep, were all totem gods in ancient times. It is generally believed that the totem of Xia nationality is bear or fish, that of Shang nationality is mysterious bird, and that of Zhou nationality is dragon, bird, turtle, dog and tiger. Throughout the zodiac, except the dragon is illusory, the other ten are visible to people every day. It can be divided into two categories, namely "six animals" (horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs) and "six animals" (rats, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes and monkeys). The former is domesticated by people for economic purposes, while the latter is closely related to human beings and disturbs human life to a certain extent, and ancestors are afraid of it. Therefore, people worship these animals as the name and symbol of this clan.

Ethnologist Liu Yaohan inferred the origin of the so-called "Zodiac" calendar from the primitive totem relics of Yi people in China. Both the Yi people and the Mao people in western Guangxi invariably put people and the zodiac in the calendar. "This is the legacy of the original idea of not distinguishing between people and animals in reality." Up to now, the Yi people still use the Chinese zodiac to mark the date and use it as the name of the market (such as Tiger Street and Rabbit Street). In Historical Records of Five Emperors, it is described that the Yellow Emperor "taught Xiong Yonghu to fight against Emperor Yan in the wilderness of Sakamoto", which is the name of the totem of each tribe and has no ability to save the tiger from the dragon. Zodiac originated from totem worship in primitive society, which is not nonsense.

Singularity theory

In the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Yi pointed out in "Examination of Jade Cong" that "at the beginning of the custom of building a tablet, ugliness was irrelevant, but rats, cows, tigers and rabbits spread in China at different ages, so they did not waste their ears", which confirmed the exotic nature of the zodiac.

In Shi Ganzhi, Guo Moruo thinks that China's zodiac originated from Babylonian zodiac, which was created by western countries in Han Dynasty after imitating the zodiac. Ancient countries such as ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and Babylon also had similar zodiac signs, but the animals were different, which proved that China's zodiac signs may not be the first. However, with the excavation of Qin bamboo slips, this statement is self-defeating, and similar animal worship has appeared all over the world, which in turn strengthens the rationality of totem theory.

Zodiac retrieval

The number of Chinese zodiac animals is twelve, which stems from the special significance of twelve in astronomy and culture.

China ancestors felt the cycle of alternating cold and summer, and plants withered and flourished, which was called "one year old". By observing the astronomical phenomena, 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 Chun Guan von Shi Xiang" says: "Ten palms are two years old, ten palms are in February, and ten palms are two days old." Twelve palms are used not only to calculate years and months, but also to measure hours.

Besides time, twelve is often used in other aspects. "Zuo Zhuan's seven years of mourning for the public" says, "Zhou Wang did things right, but there were only twelve. I thought there were many days. " It means that the Zhou dynasty replaced the Shang dynasty as the king and formulated the Zhou ceremony. The highest figure is twelve. "Mandarin Yu Jin Si" records that "the Yellow Emperor has twenty-five sons, and fourteen sons have surnames, which are twelve surnames". "The Biography of Gou Shuang in the Later Han Dynasty" said: "Therefore, the son of heaven married twelve women, and the number of days was also. There is an equal difference below the princes, and things have fallen. " [ 13]

"Twelve astronomical phenomena" is also a general term for weather phenomena in ancient times, that is, darkness, overcast, rain, snow, ice, fog, dew, frost, wind, sand, thunder and electricity; "the twelve meridians" is the cognition of Chinese medicine on human meridians; There are twelve methods for ancient music; There are "twelve foods" in the diet; There are "twelve clothes" for dressing. ...

The number of the zodiac coincides with the ancient people's inductive understanding of natural phenomena.