When did the zodiac sign first circulate? What is the origin?

The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship, which was first recorded in the pre-Qin period. Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded the 12 zodiac signs in the same way as the modern one.

Because the subject has directly checked the questioner's recommendation,But that answer wasn't accurate。The real answer to this question is not to be told to the subject for the purpose of integrals:

Zodiac** is in the earthly branch, that is, the earliest used to represent the hour, the calendar to count the day, the year of the thing. And we can see from the similar chronometric characteristics of the Maya todayThe emergence of the terrestrial branch may have predated the emergence of civilizations in Northeast Asia.

And after the appearance of this thing,The characters representing the earthly branch are also slowly changing.

Let's take the pig as an example, the pig is the last of the earthly branches, called Hai, and the pig was originally two words. Towards the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the glyphs of Hai became almost identical to those of pigs. (And pigs, of course, refer to pigs).

This process of change, in factIt is very likely that the Shang Dynasty intervened in the middle of the way, and it was the Shang Dynasty that began to move closer to the animals of the earthly branches[The oracle bone inscriptions before the Shang Dynasty and the seal scripts in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty can be seen to be de-animalized, but the surviving golden inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty in the middle go the opposite way].

So there are some things in the earthly branch that can be related to animals, it is possibleThe change of dynasty is accompanied by the accidental result of culture through false rumors

Although at 0 o'clock in the night, the rats are active, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, the cattle have to regurgitate ......It's really interesting to make this tune into a ballad. 】

Of course, this story is okay. I'll stop here.

It's not clear when it began to circulate, anyway, the timer is said to be like this.

Rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs.

The 12 zodiac signs are the figurative representations of the 12 earthly branches, 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).

The abbreviations are: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig.

Categories: Culture Art >> Folklore.

Analysis: The 12 zodiac signs are rats, oxes, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, roosters, dogs, and pigs, which are distributed in turn to the twelve earthly branches of Tongzheng. When did this custom come about?

Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty believes in the "Yu Yu Series" that it began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. His basis is: "On Balance and Potential" contains:

Yin, wood also, its fowl, tiger also. 戌, soil also, its fowl, dogs also. ......Noon, Ma also.

Sub, rat knife. Unitary, chicken too. Mao, rabbit also.

Hai, pig also. No, sheep too. Ugly, cow too.

Si, snakes too. Shen, monkey also. "In the case of the spine chakra, there are only eleven zodiac signs, and the one missing is the dragon.

The book "Words and Poisons" also said: "Chen is a dragon, Si is a snake, and the position of Chen and Si is in the southeast." In this way, the 12 zodiac signs of cherry fiber are complete, and the 12 earthly branches and the 12 zodiac signs are so complete and the same as today.

Zhao Yi's views have been accepted by people for quite a long time!

However, at the end of 1975, the Qin Tomb at No. 11 Sleeping Tiger Land in Yunmeng, Hubei Province unearthed 1200 bamboo simple books, among which there is a chapter entitled "The Thief" in the A book known as the "Book of Days", which is about divination of the physical characteristics of the thief, etc., which mentions the 12 zodiac signs. Such as "the son, the rat also, the thief to the mouth of the .......""Ugly, cow also, thief with a big nose and a long neck......And so on. The twelve earthly branches mentioned in the text of "The Thief" are roughly similar to the statements since the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Treatise on Balance".

According to research, Sleeping Tiger Land No. 11 tomb was buried in the 3rd year of Qin Shi Huang (217 BC); The content of the Book of Days can be traced back to the states of Chu and Qin during the Warring States period, so the customs of the zodiac signs existed around the time of the Warring States period. This is more than 300 years earlier than the saying "originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty".

The zodiac originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty philosopher Wang Chong.

The zodiac is a visual representation 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 (Rooster), 戌 (Dog), Hai (Pig), with the development of history gradually integrated into the concept of folk beliefs, manifested in marriage, life, New Year, etc., each zodiac has a rich legend, and in order to form a concept interpretation system, become the image philosophy of folk culture, such as the marriage of the genus, Temple fairs, 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.

The folk tale says: Shi La.

Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor wanted to choose twelve animals as palace guards, and the cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot, and the cat looked for revenge when he saw the mouse. Originally, the cow was the leader, and the rat secretly climbed on the back of the cow to take the lead. The tiger and the dragon were not convinced, and were named the gods of the mountains and the sea, ranking behind the ox.

The rabbit is not convinced, and wants to race against the dragon to lift the nuclear attack, and the rabbit runs in front of the dragon. The dog was not happy, and in a fit of rage, he bit the rabbit and was punished first-to-last. There was also a battle between snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, and chickens, and finally the pigs came to occupy the last seat.

The legend also explains why there are no cats in the zodiac. In fact, there were no cats in ancient China, and the zodiac had already been formed when domestic cats were introduced to China.