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The Birth of the Zodiac

The Birth of the Zodiac

The twelve zodiac signs are the figurative representatives of the twelve earthly branches, namely Zi (rat), Chou (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei ( Sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken), Xu (dog), Hai (pig).

With the development of history, it has gradually merged into the folk belief concept of mutual generation and mutual restraint, which is reflected in marriage, life, annual luck, etc. Each zodiac has rich legends, which form a concept interpretation system and become an image in folk culture. Philosophy, such as the zodiac of marriage, prayer at temple fairs, birth year, etc. In modern times, more and more people regard the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of entertainment and cultural activities.

Ancient literature records do not resolve the cultural origin of the zodiac, and scholars of ancient and modern times have different opinions on this.

Constellation Theory

The ancients divided the stars near the ecliptic and the equator into “twenty-eight constellations”. The twenty-eight places also represent an animal. In ancient times, the Zhoutian was divided into twelve equal parts, which were represented by twelve branches, and the twelve rulings belonged to the zodiac, and there was a corresponding relationship between the zodiac and the twenty-eight constellations.

Wang Shuo, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, believed that twenty-eight kinds of animals belonged to twenty-eight constellations, and were “ruled by seven luminaries”, forming a pattern of “female earth bats, virtual sun rats, dangerous moon swallows, and sons”.

Li Changqing of the Qing Dynasty believed in the “Songxia Pavilion” that the twenty-eight constellations matched animals “that is, the first twelve genera are doubled”, “Kang Jinlong, Chen Guan also, Jiaomu Jiao attached Yan. Jiao, dragon class also”, reflecting Twenty-eight constellation animals are collected based on the Chinese zodiac. However, it is inevitable that there will be an association, and the records of the two eight constellations with animals are later than the twelve zodiac signs.

Old star says

Jupiter orbits one day every twelve years, and the annual clades can be determined from Jupiter’s position. “Yuhan Mountain House Collection Lost Books” believes that every twelve years, “three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, three years old, and three years old.” Hungry every year”.

The rise and fall of plants and the existence cycle of animal living environment. Herbivores (rat, cow, horse, sheep) and carnivores have different living conditions in different years. If people born in different years can imitate the animals that grew vigorously in that year, and thus The zodiac animals are formed, and it is presumed that the rise and fall of animals is related to the year of Jupiter, and the zodiac signs and the twelve stars are unified.

Totem says

The ancestors of the primitive society used the graphics of some animal, inanimate or natural phenomenon as the protector and symbol of the clan, that is, the totem. The “Shan Hai Jing”, such as the mixed images of humans and beasts, are the totem gods in ancient times. The totems of the Xia people are bears or fish, the totems of the Shang people are black birds, and the totems of the Zhou people are dragons, birds, turtles, dogs, and tigers.

Except for the dragon, which is an illusory object, the rest of the twelve zodiac signs are visible in daily life. It can be divided into two categories, namely “six animals” (horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs) and “six beasts” (sats, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes and monkeys). Animals that the ancestors feared. Therefore these animals are worshipped as the name marks of the clan.

Ethnologist Liu Yaohan deduces the origin of the “Twelve Beast Calendar” from the totem remains of the Yi nationality. The twelve beast calendars of Guangxi Yi and Mao Daoyi list human beings with the twelve beasts in the calendar. The legacy of ideology in reality”. The Yi people still use the twelve animal calendars to keep track of the day and use the names of the markets (such as Tiger Street and Rabbit Street).

“Records of the Grand Historian: The Chronicles of the Five Emperors” records that the Yellow Emperor “teachs the bear and the Pixiu the body of a tiger to fight against Emperor Yan in the wild of Banquan”. The text mentioned in the text refers to the totems of various tribes, and is by no means capable of subduing the dragon and subduing the tiger. The zodiac originates from the totem worship of primitive society, and it has become a convincing theory.

Foreign

Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty said in “The Examination of the Cong of the Yuyu Cong”, “At the beginning of the Northern Customs, there was no such thing as the twelve census of the son, the ugly, the yin and the mao. ”, to identify the alien nature of the zodiac.

Guo Moruo believed that the Chinese zodiac originated from the twelve zodiac signs in Babylon, and the countries in the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty imitated the twelve signs of the zodiac. Ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Babylon and other ancient countries also have similar zodiac signs, only the animals are different, so the zodiac signs may not originate in China.

However, the excavation of Qin Jian overturned this theory, and all countries in the world have similar animal worship, which strengthens the rationality of the totem theory.