Twelve zodiac sign combinations

 

Twelve zodiac sign combinations

 

When it comes to dragons in the Year of the Dragon in the Lunar Calendar, we have to start with the twelve zodiac signs of our traditional culture, which are related to an ancient folk culture.

The twelve zodiac animals are divided into: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig.

The twelve zodiac animals were first seen in the "Book of Songs", the world's first collection of poetry. "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, Ji Dong": "The ox is brought out to send away the cold air."

When did the theory of the twelve zodiac signs originate? 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 · Wu Shi Pian" of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Yin means wood, and its bird is a tiger. Xu means earth, and its bird is a dog." It also says: "Wu means horse. Zi, Rat. Unity, chicken. ... Shen, monkey." A total of eleven zodiac names were proposed. 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 animals, it has appeared at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Northern History "Yuwen Hu Zhuan" records a letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother to him. The content is: "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.

There are six groups of meaning combinations in the zodiac:

Group 1: Rat and Ox. The rat represents wisdom and the ox represents diligence. The two must be closely integrated. If there is only wisdom without hard work, it will become cleverness. If there is only hard work without thinking, it will become stupidity. Therefore, the two must be combined. This is the first set of expectations and requirements our ancestors have for the Chinese people, and it is also the most important set.

Group 2: Tiger and Rabbit. The tiger represents bravery and the rabbit represents caution. The two must be closely integrated to achieve the so-called boldness and carefulness. If courage leaves caution, it becomes reckless, and blind caution turns into cowardice. This group is also very important, so it is placed second.

The third group is dragons and snakes. The dragon represents strength and the snake represents flexibility. The so-called hardness is easy to break, and if it is too hard, it is easy to break. But if you only have a soft side, you will easily lose your opinion. Therefore, the combination of hardness and softness is the motto of our ancestors throughout the ages.

The fourth group is horses and sheep. The horse represents marching forward without hesitation and heading straight towards the goal, while the sheep represents gentleness. If a person only cares about himself and goes straight to the goal without caring about the surroundings, he will inevitably bump into the surroundings and may not be able to achieve the goal in the end. But if a person only cares about being harmonious with his surroundings, he will lose his direction and his goal. Therefore, the indomitable nature must be closely combined with gentleness.

The fifth group is monkey and chicken. The monkey represents flexibility, and the rooster crows regularly, representing stability. Flexibility and constancy must be closely combined. If you are only flexible but without stability, no matter how good your policy is, you will not gain anything in the end. But if you were just constant, a pool of stagnant water or a piece of iron, then we would not have the reform and opening up we have today. Only a very harmonious combination between them can provide stability on the one hand, maintaining overall harmony and order, and on the other hand can continuously move forward in a flexible manner.

The sixth group is dogs and pigs. Dogs represent loyalty, and pigs represent easy-going. If a person is too loyal and does not know how to be easy-going, he will exclude others. On the other hand, if a person is too easy-going and lacks loyalty, he will lose his principles. Everyone in China has his or her own zodiac sign. Some people are pigs and some people are dogs. What is the significance of this? In fact, our ancestors expect us to be harmonious and not biased, and require us to know how to approach the corresponding side. For example, a person who belongs to the Pig can pursue the loyalty of a Dog in his easy-going nature; while a person who belongs to the Dog can be easy-going in his loyal nature.