What is the origin of the 12 zodiac signs, and what do they mean?

The Chinese zodiac is a form of expression in traditional Chinese culture, originating from the ancient divination culture, with 12 animals as symbols, representing 12 years. The origin and meaning of the zodiac are as follows: 1. Rat:

Witty, intelligent, hardworking, sensitive, and socially competent; 2. Cattle: hard-working, hard-working, realistic, heavy-minded, patient; 3. Tiger: brave, mighty, revolutionary spirit, adventurous, courageous; 4. Rabbit:

self-confidence, alertness, loyalty, loving-kindness, and dexterity; 5. Dragon: noble, heroic, mysterious, generous, and huge; 6. Snake: wisdom, composure, flexibility, ingenuity, flexibility; 7. Horse:

Positive, enthusiastic, optimistic, free and courageous; 8. Empty selling noisy sheep: respectful, benevolent, friendly, compassionate, pure; 9. Monkey: witty, enthusiastic, lively, flexible, and imaginative; 10. Chicken:

Patience, meticulousness, diligence, self-discipline and loyalty; 11. Dog: honest, hardworking, loyal, pure, kind; 12. Pig: sincere, frank, upright, credible, brave and forward.

The above is the origin and meaning of the 12 zodiac signs, which are part of Chinese folk culture and have rich meanings and symbolic meanings in traditional Chinese culture.

In the past, there is a letter written to him by Yuwen Hu's mother, which said: "In the past, the brothers of Runa Duan were born in Wuchuan Town, the eldest was a rat, the second was a rabbit, and your body was a snake. It shows that there were already 12 zodiac signs in the folk at that time.

But what about the origin of the 12 zodiac signs? It is recorded in ancient books in our country that in the Central Plains in ancient China, the "Ganzhi Chronology Method" was originally used, that is, 10 heavenly stem symbols A, B, C, D, E, G, G, XIN, NON, and 12 earthly branch symbols were used to match the 12 earthly branch symbols Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai to match each other to chronicle the cave Kaiyu. A small number of nomadic peoples in the northwest of our country use animals to keep their dates.

The Book of Tang records: "The country of Huangjia is chronicled by twelve things, and if the year is in Yin, it is called the Year of the Tiger." In addition, it is also recorded in the "History of the Song Dynasty: The Biography of Tubo" that when the Tubo leaders narrated, they recorded the year with things, and the so-called "old things of the Tao are counted as the twelve days, the Year of the Rabbit, and the Year of the Horse."

Later, in the exchanges between the Central Plains and the ethnic minorities, the two chronological methods touched each other to form the current 12 zodiac signs. Just as Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty pointed out in the "Examination of the Yu Cong", "At the beginning of the Gaibei customs, it didn't matter if the children were ugly and ugly, but when they were divided into years like rats, cows, tigers, and rabbits, they were soaked and spread in China, and they were not wasted." This explanation of the origin of the 12 zodiac signs has been recognized by many people.

In addition, there is a saying about the origin of the 12 zodiac signs: Hong Xun's "Yanggu Manlu" said that the odd number of the 12 earthly branches, the fingers or hooves of the animal are also matched with the odd number, such as the son is in the first place, and the rat that matches it is 5 fingers, and the even number of the earthly branch is taken as the name, such as the ox and the ugly match, for 4 claws. Ye Shijie explained the origin of the 12 zodiac signs in "Grass and Muzi" as:

The artist uses 12 Xiao with 12 Chen, and each Xiao has its own deficient shape, such as the rat has no teeth, the ox has no teeth, the tiger has no spleen, the rabbit has no lips, the dragon has no ears, the snake has no feet, the horse has no guts, the sheep has no pupils, the monkey has no hips, the chicken has no kidneys, the dog has no stomach, the pig has no tendons, and the human has no deficiencies. There are many other claims. Such as:

The Yellow Emperor had to select 12 kinds of animals to be on duty in the sky on time ......Through the competition, 12 animals such as rats, cows, and tigers were selected; 12 zodiac signs ** totem worship of some clans in primitive societies; The 12 zodiac signs may have been introduced from Tianzhu; or 28 nakshatras distributed throughout the week, worth 12 hours. Each nakshatra is named after an animal. Pick a common one from the animals on duty at each hour to pronoun a particular year, and so on.

Although people are not sure of the exact origin of the 12 zodiac signs, because of its popularity, convenience and fun, the grandson Yuyi has been used to this day, becoming a valuable relic left to us by the ancients that still has practical value.

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