The legend of the origin of the twelve zodiac signs

The legend of the origin of the twelve zodiac animals: In ancient times, the sky was pure blue, the mountains were green, rivers ran day and night, and human beings continued to multiply...

One morning, the Jade Emperor came Sitting in the Lingxiao Hall, the civil and military immortals gathered to pay their respects in the morning. Before the ceremony was over, I saw Taibai Jinxing hurriedly coming forward to say: Long live, I have come down to earth to inspect the world a few days ago. May the world be peaceful and prosperous. However, because there is no time control, human beings cannot distinguish the seasonal cycle, and cannot distinguish between senior and young. One day in the sky and one year in the earth. As time goes on, the world is full of complaints and the world is unstable. For this reason, the veteran believes that it is time to educate the civilization of the mortal world and the heaven; to give the mortal world a time and give human beings a place to belong.

The Jade Emperor was startled when he heard the words: Well, that makes sense. But how to record time and years in the mortal world, and how to give human beings a sense of belonging? Do you have any ideas? Taibai Jinxing took a step forward and played again: I think that twelve kinds of animals will be selected from the mortal world to come to heaven, and they will be used as zodiac signs and earthly branches, and they will be matched with the existing ten heavenly stems to record the time and year; and then add the twelve animals to the heaven. The zodiac sign is used as the zodiac sign for human beings to belong to. There is a cycle of twelve years. Isn’t it killing two birds with one stone?

As soon as Taibai Jinxing finished speaking, the gods in front of the temple nodded in praise. The Jade Emperor was overjoyed and summoned his personal attendants to deliver the edict: I will appoint you as the 'zodiac officer', and you will immediately descend to earth with the edict to conduct a strict selection and assessment of all the animals in the world. Twelve animals will be selected as the zodiac signs. The first one to report to Heaven will be named the 'Zodiac King'.

The zodiac official received the order and did not dare to neglect it. He hurriedly rode up the colorful clouds and flew to the world.

Our story begins here -

On this day, Greedy Cat came to the river to fish. After a while, he began to yawn non-stop, stretching his arms and twisting waist. Greedy Cat put the fishing rod in the ground, lay down by the river and took a nap. Greedy Cat's tail accidentally dropped into the water. Unexpectedly, a big fish thought it was some delicious food and bit its tail.

Greedy Cat jumped up in pain, and with a cry, he rushed up and brought the fish up. When he found that the fish biting his tail was a big fish, he was really ecstatic.

Greedy Cat was carrying the fishing basket and carrying the fishing rod on his back, humming a tune, and was very proud of today's unexpected harvest.

At this time, a little magpie flew over the head of Greedy Cat, shouting loudly as it flew: Become a god by doing the zodiac sign! Do the zodiac sign and become a god...

The greedy cat waved to the little magpie and asked: What is the zodiac sign? Can you become a god just by taking the zodiac sign?

The little magpie replied: The Jade Emperor will summon animals from all over the world and select twelve animals as the zodiac signs of human beings. All animals chosen as zodiac signs are called gods...

Upon hearing this, Greedy Cat's eyes suddenly glowed green, and he hurriedly asked: Where should I go? The little magpie replied: Come to Temple Street and sign up!

After hearing this, Greedy Cat ran back home without saying thank you.

In the yard, the greedy cat's servant Mouse was chopping firewood with an ax raised high.

The greedy cat shouted: Mouse! Rat! Go to Temple Street and sign up for me. I want to be a zodiac sign and I want to become a god!

The mouse picked up another piece of wood and said timidly: "Let's go after I finish chopping this wood."

The greedy cat aimed at the mouse’s *** and kicked it, no! You have to go immediately, go quickly! Then he kicked the mouse out of the courtyard.

The mouse ran to Temple Street without thinking, looking around and not knowing where to sign up. Temple Street, which is usually deserted, became bustling with cars and people because of the zodiac sign selection. General summonses were posted everywhere in the streets and alleys, and various birds and goddesses were flying and shouting like flowers in the blue sky...

At this time, the mouse saw the monkey approaching from a distance. Because the monkey had signed up, he was whistling and feeling very proud. The mouse hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and bowed: Brother Monkey, where should I apply for the zodiac sign?

What? Do you also want to sign up for the zodiac sign? Don't go, don't go! The queue to sign up is endless, and your turn has long been missed! Monkeys are good at persuading.

The mouse stamped his feet anxiously: But...but I...I must go!

Do you really want to go? ! The monkey scratched his forehead. Let's go to the Xiande Temple. With that said, he skipped away.

The rat kept chirping... >>

The legendary origin of the twelve zodiac signs. After the rat, cow, horse and sheep were selected as the twelve zodiac signs, the rat said: I should be placed in the First place. The cows, horses, and sheep were not convinced and said: Why are you ranked first? The Rat said: I am big, so I have to be ranked first. The cows and horses couldn't help laughing: Are you as big as us? The mouse said: It doesn’t matter if we argue, let’s let others decide. The cows, horses, sheep, etc. all agreed to let people come to review. So they discussed a way: led by the cow, the horse, sheep, and rats walked through the street one after another to see what people thought.

On the street, the cow came over, and people said: This cow is very strong. The horse came over, and people said: This horse is so tall. When the sheep came over, people said: This sheep is very fat. Finally, the rat swaggered over with its belly full. When people saw a big rat suddenly walking out of the street, they all chased it and shouted: What a big rat, what a big rat! In this way, the cows, horses and sheep have nothing to say, leaving the mouse in first place.

In addition, there are similar folk stories about the ranking of the twelve zodiac signs.

There is an interesting story about how the twelve zodiac animals are arranged in order:

At the beginning of the chaos, when the heavenly stems and earthly branches were just established, the Jade Emperor ordered to summon all the animals in the world. Twelve zodiac signs are selected according to the twelve earthly branches of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai.

After the news came out, the cat and mouse, two good friends, were alarmed. The cat said to the mouse: Tomorrow, at five o'clock, I will go to heaven to apply for the election. I have a habit of snoozing, so you have to call me out then! The mouse kept saying: Easy to say, easy to say!

But early the next morning, the unfaithful mouse got up secretly and left without saying goodbye.

On this day, the beasts gathered in the Lingxiao Palace and the selection process began. The Jade Emperor singled out dragons, tigers, ox, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs, Twelve amphibious animals such as rabbits, snakes and rats are used as the twelve zodiac signs. At that time, the rooster had two beautiful horns and was also included in the beasts.

Just when the Jade Emperor was about to arrange seats for them, he saw the black raccoon pig flashing out. Although it was clumsy and clumsy, it loved to cause trouble. It played: The Jade Emperor has already After choosing a leader, the minister is willing to relieve the king's worries, be a fair person, and rank the brothers in order. The Jade Emperor was overjoyed when he heard this, told the pig to judge impartially, and then withdrew from the court.

As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the twelve zodiac signs became a mess.

At the beginning, everyone unanimously elected the gentle and generous old scalper to be the first. Even the mighty tiger and the blue dragon respected him and expressed their agreement. However, the mouse huddled in the corner came out and proposed a plan. It said: When it comes to big numbers, I am the best. If you don’t believe it, let’s go to the human world and try it out and listen to the people’s comments. So, the old scalper and the mouse came to the street market.

People showed no reaction when the cow passed through the crowd. At this time, the mouse suddenly climbed onto the back of the cow and set up a stake. People on the street shouted: "What a big mouse!" By the time people came to beat them with sticks, the mice had already run away.

The mouse came back and boasted, and all the animals stood up for the scalpers. Only the black pig was secretly happy. With one wave, he picked the mouse first, and then the cow.

This annoyed the tiger and the black dragon who were nearby. They roared loudly, making all the animals tremble. All the animals hurriedly worshiped the dragon and tiger, and unanimously elected the tiger as the king of the mountains, and the blue dragon as the king of the fish, to rule the world. The monkey wrote a golden plaque with the character "王" for the tiger and hung it on the tiger's forehead. The rooster gave his two horns to Canglong. From then on, Canglong wore the laurel crown. When tigers and blue dragons gain power in the world, they will be second to mice and old scalpers. At this time, another troublesome hare jumped out. It sneered and said: Hey! In terms of appearance, I am similar to a mouse, and in terms of stature, I am bigger than a mouse. I am the guard of the Mountain King, so I should be ranked in front of the Sea King.

Canglong was furious when he heard this and said: "Don't mess around. If you are not convinced, let's give it a try." When the black pig heard what he wanted, he hurriedly said: It's settled, let's compete and let the hunting dogs be your judges... >>

The Origin Story of the Twelve Zodiac Signs Twelve There is a myth and legend about the origin of the zodiac:

It is said that the Jade Emperor wanted to select 12 animals as representatives, and then he sent gods to earth to talk to the animals about it, and set a time in the year and month of Mao When I came to the Heavenly Palace to run for election on the same day and at the same time, the earlier I came, the closer I would be to the front of the queue, while those behind me would not be able to get in line. At that time, the cat and mouse were still good friends. The cat loves to sleep but he also wants to be chosen, so he tells the mouse to call him when the time comes. But the mouse turned around and forgot. The mouse went to the old cow and told him that he would run faster if he got up early and asked the cow to take him with him. Lao Niu agreed.

At that time, dragons did not have horns, but chickens had horns. The dragon told the chicken that the chicken was already very beautiful and didn't need its horns, so he asked the chicken to lend it to him. When the chicken heard the dragon's flattery, he was very happy and lent his horn to the dragon, and told the dragon to remember to return it to him on time after the election. Long agreed.

When the year of the year, the animals rushed to the palace, and the cats were still sleeping.

The rat sat on the back of the cow. After arriving at the Heavenly Court, the mouse jumped up and down. The Jade Emperor said that the mouse was the first to arrive and ranked first; the old steak was second; the tiger arrived soon after and ranked third; the rabbit also arrived and ranked fourth; the dragon arrived very late, but he was big and the Jade Emperor could see it at a glance. Seeing that he was so beautiful, he asked him to rank fifth, and also said that his son would rank sixth. But Long was very disappointed because his son did not come today. At this time, the snake behind came and said: "He is ***. Dad, I am ranked sixth! I am ranked sixth!" The snake was ranked sixth; the horse and sheep also arrived. You let me and I let you. : Brother Horse, you go first, Brother Sheep, you go first, they were pushing back and forth. Seeing how polite they were, the Jade Emperor asked them to be ranked seventh or eighth. The monkey was originally ranked in the thirties, but he could jump on his own. He pulled the clouds in the sky and jumped to the front, ranking ninth; then chickens, dogs and pigs were also selected one after another.

The cat woke up after the competition. As soon as the mouse came home, he was chased by the cat all over the world...

After the competition, the dragon came to the seaside and saw him with horns. She's much prettier than before, so I'm not ready to return the favor. In order to hide from the chicken, he disappeared from the world. The chicken was very angry, so he got up early every morning and shouted to the sea: Give it back to me! Give me back! The hen shouted: Pay him back quickly! Pay him back quickly! The chicken also cries: Return! return!

Regarding the origin of the twelve zodiac signs, historical records are: Since the time of Emperor Shun, our country has been using the "stem and branch chronology" that matches the ten symbols of the heavenly stems and the twelve symbols of the earthly branches. The method of counting animals first originated from the nomadic ethnic minorities in the west and north of my country in ancient times. "Tang Shu" records: "The country of Xijiasi records the year with twelve objects. 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 the "Bei 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 have been spread throughout China, so they are still closely related."

The twelve zodiac animals were first seen in the "Book of Songs", the world's first collection of poems. "The Book of Songs, Xiaoya, Che Gong" says: "On the auspicious day of Gengwu, my horse is sent." It is also found in "Book of Rites, Yue Ling, Ji Dong": "The unearthed cow is used to send the cold air." The theory of the twelve zodiac signs actually came into being. When? Some historical data say: it should have been formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest. The basis for this is Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty's "On Balance? Material Potential Chapter" which says: "Yin means wood, and its bird is a tiger. Xu means earth, and its bird is a dog." It also says: "Wu means horse. Zi, Rat. You, chicken. ... Shen, monkey." *** proposed eleven zodiac names. In addition, in the "Wuyue Chunqiu" written by Zhao Ye of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Wu Zaichen, his position is dragon." This just adds "Chenlong" to complete the twelve zodiac signs. It can be seen that the twelve zodiac signs have been formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. As for the use of the twelve zodiac animals, it has appeared at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Northern History "Yuwen Hu Zhuan" records a letter written by Yuwen Hu's mother to him. The content is: "In the past, you were born in Wuchuan Town. The elder brother was a rat, the second one was a rabbit, and you were a snake." This shows that at that time, the twelve zodiac signs were widely used among the people to record people's birth years.

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 use of zodiac signs to predict the appearance and characteristics of thieves. 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: Our ancestors started using zodiac animals to record their years long before Qin Shihuang became emperor, and specifically pointed out that "it started in Xia and spread in Shang and Zhou dynasties." However, how to cite it is probably yet to be done by historians and cultural relics scholars... ...>>

The origin of the twelve zodiac signs. How did the legend of the Chinese zodiac come about? The origin of the twelve zodiac signs: The twelve zodiac signs are also called twelve-year beasts. In the Chinese calendar, there are twelve year animals that take turns in duty, so our Chinese year has rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig used in the calendar. superior. So where did the twelve zodiac signs come from?

The twelve zodiac signs began in the sixth century BC. In the early days, they were used in interaction with the numbers of the earthly branches. Later, they became the year numbers of the chronology.

In fact, this N story has been circulating among the people: It is said that back then, the Buddha summoned all the animals to attend a grand gathering of beasts, and the first twelve beasts to arrive would serve as the names of the twelve years. . On the day of the gathering of animals, the mouse is the first to arrive, so in the Year of the Beast, it has the largest order of birth, followed by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster and dog. The pig was the last one to arrive, so among the twelve-year-old animals, it was the last in terms of age.

Another chapter of this story tells how cats and mice become enemies. At that time, the cat and the mouse were good friends. Before going to the People's Congress, they slept together and agreed to wake up whoever woke up first.

Unexpectedly, the mouse got up early the next day and went to the meeting alone quietly, ignoring the cat. When the cat woke up and rushed to the meeting, the Buddha had assigned the twelve year numbers. The cat and the mouse formed a deep feud from this moment on. Since the time of Emperor Shun, the "Stem and Branch Calendar Method" has been used, which combines the ten symbols of the heavenly stems with the twelve symbols of the earthly branches. The method of counting animals originally originated from the nomadic ethnic groups in ancient western and northern my country. "Tang Shu" records: "The country of Xijiasi uses twelve objects 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 "Bei Yucong Kao": "Yibei Di Customs" At first, there was no mention of the twelve zodiac signs of Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao, but the years were divided into rat, ox, tiger, and rabbit. In the Han Dynasty, Hu Hanxie (Chanyu) lived in Wuyuan. It was mixed with the common people and spread in China, so it was inherited and followed."

The origin and significance of the twelve zodiac signs? The Origin and Legend of the Twelve Zodiac Signs

In China, everyone has their own zodiac sign. You are a tiger, he is a rabbit, I am a dragon, etc. If you want to know how old a person is, just ask his zodiac sign and you will get a rough idea.

It is said that when former Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei visited China for the first time, he asked Zhou Enlai, then Premier of the State Council, a riddle: There are only twelve in the whole of China, but everyone has one. There are very few in foreign countries. What is the answer to the riddle? After hearing this, Premier Zhou couldn't help laughing and replied: Twelve zodiac animals. This anecdote has become widely circulated as a beautiful story showing Premier Zhou's quick thinking.

Whenever the Spring Festival comes, due to the traditional habits of the Chinese nation, people like to say that this year is the Year of the Dragon, which is the zodiac year of the Dragon people. Next year is the Year of the Snake, and the year after that is the Year of the Horse... Tracing its historical origins and cultural heritage naturally leads to the following topics.

Classical Records of the Twelve Zodiac Signs

Since the time of Emperor Shun, our country 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 my country in ancient times. "Tang Shu" records: "The country of Xijiasi records the year with twelve objects. 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 the "Bei 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 have been spread throughout China, so they are still closely related."

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 use of zodiac signs to predict the appearance and characteristics of thieves. 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 used 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.

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 "Poetry of the Twelve Zodiac Signs" written by Shen Jiong:

The traces of rats create dust cases, and the cattle and sheep fall down at dusk.

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

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

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

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

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 goes:

The mice drink and the rivers never dry up, and the cows and girls find it difficult to meet each other all year round.

Binding tigers in the southern mountains with bare hands, and catching rabbits in the middle of the moon.

Lilong Youzhu often doesn't sleep, and it is quite tiring to add too much to the trouble.

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

Don’t laugh at the people of Chu who are crowned with 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.

The first sentence "mouse" means water rat. The "cow girl" in the second sentence refers to the folk legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The "Lilong" in the five sentences is a type of dragon. There is a pearl under its chin, so it is called Lilong. The "sheep" in the eight sentences refers to the ram, and "touching the fan" means that the horns of the sheep touch the fence. Eleven sentences... >>

The legendary story of the origin of the twelve zodiac signs. In a long time ago, the sky was pure blue, the mountains were green, rivers ran day and night, and humans continued to multiply...

One morning, the Jade Emperor sat in the Lingxiao Palace and gathered the civil and military officials to attend the morning ceremony. Before the ceremony was over, he saw the Taibai Golden Star hurriedly coming forward to say: Long live, I have come down to earth to inspect the world a few days ago. May the world be peaceful and prosperous. However, because there is no time control, human beings cannot distinguish the seasonal cycle, and cannot distinguish between senior and young. One day in the sky and one year in the earth. As time goes on, the world is full of complaints and the world is unstable. For this reason, the veteran believes that it is time to educate the civilization of the mortal world and the heaven; to give the mortal world a time and give human beings a place to belong.