What is the origin and origin of the 12 zodiac signs?

The origin and origin of the zodiac signs I heard about are actually quite fairytale-like. This is what I read in a book when I was a kid.

Legend has it that in ancient times, before the 12 zodiac signs, one day the Jade Emperor was bored and suddenly wanted to rank the animals in the world. He was going to choose twelve from so many kinds of animals as representatives, so he sent someone down to the human world to announce the rules of the selection competition. Any animal can come and participate, and the mode of selection is a race, and whoever runs faster is the first.

This news caused a lot of sensation in the animal kingdom. All kinds of animals want to run first in front of the Jade Emperor and get the love of the Jade Emperor.

The little mouse who was about to participate in the race also wanted to win the championship, but he knew that he was too small to run and beat other animals. So he wanted to rely on the strength of others to win the game. The little mouse was flamboyant and persuaded many animals to take it for a ride, and he always told others that he didn't want to be too embarrassed in front of the Jade Emperor, as long as he entered the twelve.

So many animals pity it for being disgusted by humans all day long and agree to him.

The Jade Emperor designed many levels in the competition, just to eliminate some of the more cowardly animals. The last level is to cross a river, and the previous level is all kinds of broken bridges, all kinds of mountains, all kinds of swamps. Each level has to be cleared with all your might.

In order to design this level, the Jade Emperor also took a lot of careful thought.

The race began, and the animals started their race early in the morning, but gradually there were fewer and fewer animals running on the road, some animals got stuck in the swamp, some animals got lost, and some animals fell. And the rat sat firmly on a cow. Because the ox promised to take it, the mouse was very clever, and with the cooperation of the two of them they passed many levels, and at the last river, the old cow crossed the river first, but when it was about to reach the end, the little mouse jumped from him and jumped to the end, so the cunning mouse won the second place, and the honest old cow won the second place.

Thus the zodiac signs were born.

The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship, and there are many historical versions.

The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship, and each zodiac has a rich legend, and has formed a conceptual interpretation system, which has become an image philosophy in folk culture, such as the zodiac and natal year in marriage.

Nakshatras say that the ancients divided the stars near the ecliptic and equator into "twenty-eight nakshatras". Each of the 28 Nakshatras represents an animal. In ancient times, the week and heaven were divided into twelve parts, which were represented by twelve branches, and the twelve rulers belonged to the zodiac, and there was a correspondence between the zodiac and the twenty-eight constellations.

Wang Wei, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, believed that 28 kinds of animals belonged to the 28 constellations, and "unified them with seven yao", becoming a pattern of "female earth bats, virtual sun rats, dangerous moon swallows, and children". Li Changqing of the Qing Dynasty believed in the "Songxia Pavilion Words" that the twenty-eight animals "that is, the first twelve genera are doubled", "Kang Jinlong, Chenguan also, and Jiaomu Jiao are attached." Jiao, dragons also", embodies the twelve zodiac signs based on the twenty-eight kinds of star animals.

However, it is inevitable that there will be a supplementary experience, and the record of the 28 constellations with animals is later than the 12 zodiac signs.

Jupiter orbits one day in 12 years, and the annual branch order can be determined from Jupiter's position. "Yuhan Shanfang Ji Yishu" believes that every 12 years, "three years old, three years old, three years old, drought", another said that "the world is six years old, six years old, six years old, one hunger". There is a cycle of the rise and fall of plants and the living environment of animals, and the living conditions of herbivores (rats, cows, horses, sheep) and carnivorous omnivores are very different in different years, and people born in different years can imitate the animals that grow vigorously in that year, thus forming a zodiac animal, so as to presume that the rise and fall of animals is related to the year of Jupiter, and the zodiac and the twelve stars are unified.

Totem said that the "Historical Records of the Five Emperors" recorded that the Yellow Emperor "taught the bear to play the tiger in order to fight with the Yan Emperor in the field of Hanquan", and the text said that it is the totem of the tribes, and it is not really the ability to subdue the dragon and subdue the tiger. The 12 zodiac signs ** became a convincing doctrine in the totem worship of primitive societies.

In the pre-Qin period, there was a relatively complete zodiac system, and the earliest hand-me-down document that recorded the same 12 zodiac signs as in modern times was the "Treatise on Balance" by the Eastern Han Dynasty King Shi Zhaochong. It is difficult to determine when the zodiac signs originated.

The 12 zodiac signs are the figurative representations of the twelve earthly branches of the high hail, namely Zi (Rat), Chou (Ox), Yin (Tiger), Mao (Rabbit), Chen (Dragon), Si (Snake), Wu (Horse), Wei (Sheep), Shen (Monkey), You (Rooster), 戌 (Dog), Hai (Pig), with the development of history, it has gradually integrated into the folk belief concept of mutual reciprocity and mutual restraint.

Manifested in marriage, life, New Year's fortune, etc., each zodiac has a rich legend, and forms a concept interpretation system, which has become an image philosophy in folk culture, such as the zodiac on marriage, temple prayers, natal years, etc. In modern times, more people regard the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of entertainment and cultural activities.

Contemporary zodiac culture presents new characteristics:

1. Changes in the value of animal use. The animal instincts of the zodiac have not changed, but the practical value has been very different from ancient and modern.

2. The destruction of superstition. Most of the legends of the zodiac are imaginations made due to the underdevelopment of science, and some are cunning, spreading falsehoods and even deception and lies, and most of them have now seen through the illusion.

3. The decline of folklore. The change of ideology and concepts, the disintegration of the old social structure, and the loss of the existence and prestige of traditional folk customs. The taboo fades and even becomes forgotten.

The changes of the times have not made the zodiac culture decline, and the zodiac as the protagonist of the Spring Festival festival has been strengthened compared with ancient times. In addition to the traditional calendar, Spring Festival couplets, New Year's paintings, paper-cutting, with the zodiac "bull spirit", "rat you have money", into the fashion of the New Year's greetings, all levels of the Spring Festival Gala are not lacking in zodiac themes, zodiac cultural relics, art exhibitions are dazzling, news ** compete to popularize the knowledge of the zodiac.

The lunar calendar (zodiac) year and the eight-character theory of the genus, respectively, to the first day of the first month and the beginning of the spring as the year, the two are easy to confuse, every year during the Spring Festival caused heated discussions.