Twelve zodiac signs and zodiac signs

 

Twelve zodiac signs and zodiac signs

 

The twelve zodiac signs and the twelve earthly branches are inseparable.

Since the time of Emperor Shun, China has been using the "Stem and Branch Calendar System" that matches the ten symbols of the Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches. The method of counting animals first originated from the nomadic ethnic minorities in the west and north of China in ancient times.

"Tang Shu" records: "The country of Xijiasi uses twelve things to record the year. If the year is in Yin, it is called the Year of the Tiger." Zhao Yi, a famous textual research scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said in "Yi Yu Cong Kao": "Yibei Di In the early days of customs, there was no such thing as the twelve zodiac signs of Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao, but the years were divided into periods such as rat, ox, tiger, and rabbit. In the Han Dynasty, Hu Hanxie (Chanyu) lived in Wuyuan, together with the Qi people. The people are mixed together, and they are spread in China, so they can be used together without losing their ears." In fact, Tiangan is about space, a concept of space, it is about direction and things. Among them, A and B represent the east, representing wood; Bing and Ding represent the south, representing fire; Geng and Xin represent the west, representing gold; Ren and Gui represent the north, representing water; Wu and Ji represent the middle part, representing soil.

The earthly branches and their corresponding zodiac signs are a time concept. This concept of time represents a day, a year, and a lifetime.

When it represents a day, it is from the early morning of the first night to the early morning of the second night. When it represents a year, it is from spring to winter. When it represents a person's life, it is from birth to death.

In addition, some people have also concluded from daily life that the order of the twelve zodiac signs is related to their active time. The period from 11 pm to 1 am is Zi time, when rats are most active and are called Zi rats. From 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., it is Chou time, when the cow is chewing cud, it is called Chou cow. From three o'clock to five o'clock, it is the Yin time. At this time, tigers wander around looking for food and are the most ferocious. They are called Yin tigers. From five o'clock to seven o'clock, it is the time of committing crimes. At this time, the sun has not yet risen and the moon is still hanging in the sky. At this time, the Jade Rabbit is busy making medicine. Human rabbits also began to come out to look for food, and they were called rabbits. From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., it is Chen hour. This is a good time for the dragon to make rain, which is called Chen dragon. From nine o'clock to eleven o'clock, it is Si time. Snakes become active and are called Si snakes. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., when the yang energy is strong, it is the noon hour. It is the time when the heavenly horse moves in the sky, which is called the noon horse. One to three o'clock in the afternoon is the Wei time. Sheep eating grass at this time will grow stronger and are called Wei sheep. From three to five o'clock in the afternoon, it is Shen time. At this time, monkeys become active and are called Shen monkeys. From five o'clock to seven o'clock, it is the unitary hour. When night falls, the chickens begin to return to their nests, which is called unitary chicken. From 7 pm to 9 pm, it is the Xu hour, and the dog starts to keep vigil, which is called the Xu dog. From 9 to 11 pm, it is Hai hour. At this time, everything is silent and the pigs are snoring, which is called Hai pig.

As the twelve hours of a day, twelve animals will be used instead. Rats are active in the middle of the night, which means midnight. The ox is the most industrious and the first to get up, which represents the ugly time. By analogy, pigs are most likely to sleep, which represents Hai hour.

The twelve zodiac signs and the twelve earthly branches represent a person's life, so they extend from here to represent people from different social classes. In other words, it represents the origin of a person. The connection lies between a person's birth and his future role in society. You were born in Zi, so your zodiac sign is a rat.

Since the zodiac signs were associated with all social classes, it was necessary to represent the princess in animal form. What animal symbol represents a king? No common animal represents a monarch. Obviously, only the dragon is best suited to represent the king. It brings together the characteristics of almost all the most powerful animals in nature, represents the power of the king, and also represents the king's heart to embrace all rivers. Dragons are not common. They only appear once in a while, which means that the real Dragon King doesn't appear easily. They are rare and certainly noble. Rare treasure.

In terms of the concept of time, the time concept represented by the dragon is also the "golden hour" of the day. Dawn is the time of day when the sun has just risen. The sun rises, light shines on the earth, and everything sprouts. This scene is very similar to The King's Gift.

Therefore, since the twelve animals in the zodiac represent various people in society and represent the emperor, of course there should be one, and the dragon is more suitable in all aspects. Therefore, the dragon is included in the zodiac.

In ancient my country, the Southern and Northern Dynasties not only used the twelve zodiac signs to record the year, but also appeared in the "Poem of the Twelve Zodiac Signs" written by Shen Jiong:

 

Rat traces create dust, and cattle and sheep come down at dusk.

The tiger roars in the empty valley, and the rabbit moon opens towards the window.

The dragon's shadow is green in the distance, and the snakes and willows are lingering nearby.

The bones of orchids are picked far away, and the sheep are planted in the spring.

The monkey chestnut is shy of the fragrant fruit, and the chicken anvil brings out the beauty.

Outside the house, the dog is pregnant, and the pig is relaxing outside the window.

 

This poem embeds the names of the twelve zodiac animals in order in the first word, and highlights the characteristics of each animal, which plays a finishing touch.

The twelve zodiac poems written by Hu Yan, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, not only embed the names of the zodiac animals in sequence, but also have one code for each, which is quite interesting. The poem says:

 

Mole drinks water and the river never dries up, and cow and girl find it hard to see each other all year round.

Binding tigers on the southern mountain with bare hands, catching rabbits in the middle of the moon and the sky is endless.

Lilong Youzhu often doesn't sleep, so he is tired because he adds too much to a snake.

The old horse never had horns, and the sheep sneered when they touched the feudal lord.

Don't laugh at the people of Chu who are crowned monkeys, and wish that the chickens will be empty in the old forest and Qiu.

Wuyang slaughtered dogs in Peizhong City, Pingjin released pigs in the east end of the sea.

 

However, in the mid-1970s, that is, in December 1975, thousands of bamboo slips were discovered among the cultural relics unearthed from Qin Tomb No. 11 in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei. Among them, "Sunrise: Thief" clearly records the characters using the zodiac sign of the thief. The appearance of this miracle proves that the twelve zodiac animals were used in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because Qin Tomb No. 11 was buried in the 30th year of the First Emperor, that is, 217 BC, according to research.

Some people say that our ancestors started using zodiac animals to record their years long before Qin Shihuang became emperor, and specifically pointed out that "it began in Xia and spread in Shang and Zhou dynasties." However, how to cite it is probably yet to be further explored by historians and cultural relics scholars.