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First of all, say the meaning of the zodiac
The first group is rats and cows. Rats represent wisdom, and cows represent diligence. Wisdom and diligence must be closely combined. If wisdom is not diligent, it becomes cleverness. And just being diligent and not thinking, it becomes stupid. The two must be combined. This is the expectation and requirement of our ancestors for our first group, and it is also the most important group.
The second group is the tiger and the rabbit. The tiger stands for bravery and the rabbit stands for caution. Courage and caution must be closely combined to achieve boldness and prudence. If bravery leaves caution, it becomes recklessness, but without bravery, it becomes timidity. This group is also very important, so it is in the second place. I think these nobles should add: When we show caution, don't think that China people are not brave.
Watching everyone lost in thought, I went on to say: The third group is dragons and snakes, with dragons representing fierceness and snakes representing flexibility. The so-called rigid ones are easy to break, and too rigid ones are easy to break. However, if there is only a soft side, it is easy to lose one's mind. Therefore, combining rigidity with softness is our ancestral motto.
Next, there are horses and sheep. Horses represent courage, while sheep represent harmony. If a person only cares about his own goal, regardless of the surrounding environment, he will inevitably bump into his surroundings and may not be able to achieve his goal in the end. However, if a person patronizes and is harmonious, he may even have no direction. Therefore, his courage must be closely combined with harmony, which is the fourth set of expectations of our ancestors.
Then there are monkeys and chickens. Monkeys stand for flexibility, and chickens crow regularly, which stands for constancy. Flexibility and constancy must be closely combined. If you are flexible without constancy, no matter how good the policy is, it will not be harvested. On the one hand, it will be stable, maintain overall harmony and order, on the other hand, it will be able to advance in flexibility. This is the most fundamental gist.
Finally, there are dogs and pigs. Dogs represent loyalty and pigs represent easygoing. If a person is too loyal and doesn't know how to be easygoing, he will reject others. Conversely, if a person is too easygoing and has no loyalty, he will lose his principles. Whether loyalty to a nation or loyalty to his own ideals, he must be closely combined with easygoing, so that he can easily maintain a deep balance.
Why does the zodiac take twelve?
"Zhou Li Chun Guan Feng Xiangshi" contains: "Ten palms are two years old, ten palms are two months old, ten palms are two days old, ten palms are two days old, ten palms are twenty-eight stars, and their narratives are distinguished so as to meet the heaven." The division of time is progressive with twelve years, twelve months a year and twelve o'clock a day. "Mandarin Jin Yu Si" contains: "There are twenty-five sons of the Yellow Emperor, and fourteen of them have surnames, which are twelve surnames." Even the sons of heaven's wives and concubines have the saying of "twelve women", "The Biography of Xun Shuang in the Later Han Dynasty": "Therefore, the sons of heaven marry twelve women, and the number of days is also; There is an equal difference below the princes, and things have fallen. "
In recent years, the creation epic Dark Biography of Han nationality was discovered in Shennongjia area. There is a story about the origin of Ganzhi: "At the beginning of the world, Xuan Huang rode chaos beast and met Nu Wa. There are two meat buns around Nu Wa. There are ten men in the big one and twelve women in the small one. Xuan Huang said:' This is the heavenly dry revolution to support the gods to govern Gankun.' So, they were named respectively, matched with husband and wife, and became yin and yang. Men are collectively called heavenly stems, while women are earthly branches. "This creation myth story tells the story of the dry branch, the mysterious god, the God of Nu Wa, and the Yin and Yang of the dry Kun, which goes back to the" life experience "of the dry branch for a long time.
In ancient times, the publication of heaven and earth has always been based on heaven and earth. Ten heavenly stems are also called ten mothers, and the corresponding twelve earthly branches are called twelve sons. Cai Yong's "The Moon Order" in the Han Dynasty: "The love of the five elements is greatly adopted, which accounts for the construction of the fighting program, so it is the first time that A and B are famous for their days, which is called dry; Making a child ugly by the name of the moon is called a branch. The branches and branches are matched to become sixty years old. " Da Rao was a minister in the era of the Yellow Emperor, and the match here was sixty years, that is, sixty jiazi, taking the least common multiple of ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. The trunk and branch are matched in sequence, from Jiazi to Ugly ... until Guihai is the 60th pair, which happens to be the last one for both trunk and branch, and then defecation begins again with Jiazi. This cycle is called Jiazi. Among them, each aerial stem appears six times and each aerial branch appears five times.
The birth of the zodiac has an astronomical background. In primitive times, our ancestors experienced the cycle of alternating cold and summer. In the Song Dynasty, Hong Hao's "The Story of the Song and Mo" said: "The Nuzhen is extremely small, just behind the new moon, and its people don't know the date. When asked, they say,' How many times have I seen the grass?'" In the Song Dynasty, Meng Gong's Record of the Monks and Tartars also recorded: "Every grass is one year old, and when someone asks about its age, they say how many grasses it is." In 2000, another sky watcher discovered that the moon's profit and loss cycle can be used to measure the length of years, and that twelve full moons are one year old. This discovery is one of the most accurate achievements of the early calendar, and "twelve" is regarded as "the number of days" that conveys God's will. The sky is dry and the earth needs support, the sun and the moon are opposite, and the world is opposite, which is the "Twelve".
Mouse ugly cow Yin Hu Mao Tu Chen Long Si Snake Wu Ma Wei Yang Shen Hou You Chicken Gou Hai Zhu
There are many animals in the world. Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals as their zodiac signs?
In the Qing Dynasty, Liu Xian's Miscellaneous Notes on Guangyang quoted Li Changqing's Superficial Remarks on Songxia Pavilion: "Why is Zi a mouse?" Yue: the sky is born in the child, and if it is not consumed, it will not open. Rats consume insects. So the night is not yet central, and the positive mouse has to wait, so the child belongs to the mouse. The ground is ugly, while the cow opens the ground, so ugliness belongs to the cow. If you are born in Yin, if you are born, you will be killed. The murderer, the tiger, the yin, the fear. If you are awesome, you are a tiger, so Yin is a tiger. The offender, the sunrise. Japan is isolated from the body and contains the essence of Taiyin Jade Rabbit, so it is a rabbit. Chen, the divination of March, is when the dragons are raining, so Chen belongs to the dragon. The last person, the divination in April, is lush at the time, and the snake is in its place. Also, when the snake was not on the road, it was a snake. At noon, the anode is born and the yin is born. Horses are healthy and never leave the ground, and they are also yin, so they belong to horses in the afternoon. A sheep is not a sheep because it bites untimely grass and grows. At the time of applying, the apes crow at sunset, and their arms are stretched out. By analogy, chaos is rampant, so the application belongs to monkeys. This person, when the moon comes out, is the body of the moon, and the water content is the essence of the sun golden rooster, so it belongs to the chicken. In the nucleus, pigs know nothing except diet, so Hai is a pig. "
There are all kinds of legends about the arrangement of the zodiac. Such stories, like jokes to amuse people, or fables to belittle evil and promote good, have strong literary elements. However, the arrangement of the zodiac seating is by no means overnight, nor can it be completed in one generation. At first, it was not necessarily a nomination of twelve kinds at a time, maybe only four or five, and maybe there was an excess situation. Later, the survival of the fittest was eliminated, and the quota was fixed and positioned, which has been passed down to this day.
To put it another way, the selection and arrangement of the zodiac is determined according to the daily activity time of animals. Since the Han Dynasty at the latest, China has adopted the Twelve Earthly Branches Record Book for twelve hours a day, each hour is equivalent to three hours on both sides, and it is midnight from eleven o'clock at night to one o'clock in the morning, when mice are most active. From 1 am to 3 am, it was ugly, and the cow was ruminating. From 3: 00 to 5: 00, it is Yinshi, when tigers wander around for food, which is the fiercest. From five o'clock to seven o'clock, it's time to commit crimes. At this time, the sun has not yet risen and the moon is still hanging in the sky. At this time, Yutu is busy with medicine. From 7: 00 am to 9: 00 am, it is the morning, which is a good time for the dragon to rain. From 9: 00 to 11: 00, the snake began to be active. From eleven o'clock in the morning to one o'clock in the afternoon, the sun is in full swing, and it is noon, which is the time to be unconstrained. From 1: 00 pm to 3: 00 pm, it is late. When sheep eat grass at this time, they will grow stronger. From 3: 00 pm to 5: 00 pm, it was the Olympic Games. At this time, the monkeys became active. From 5: 00 to 7: 00, it's unitary. When night falls, chickens begin to return to their nests. From 7: 00 pm to 9: 00 pm, the dog began to watch the night. From 9: 00 pm to 11: 00 pm, it's haishi. At this time, all is silent and the pig is snoring.
The zodiac is also called the Twelve-Year Animal. In the calendar of China, there are twelve animals on duty in turn, so in our China year, rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs are used in the calendar.
The zodiac began in the sixth century BC, and it was initially applied to a group of numbers of earthly branches, and later it became the year number of the year. However, in the Chinese Zodiac, why does the mouse that everyone shouts and beats take the lead and lead the pack? There is a folklore here: The Jade Emperor summoned all the zodiac animals to hold a ranking meeting, and the Eight Immortals, such as pigs, rats, cows, horses and sheep, crossed the sea to show their magical powers. Everyone rushed to the meeting together. Brother Niu was simple and honest, and the result of his early departure took the lead. Originally, the champion belonged to him, but at the critical moment, the clever mouse quietly jumped on the back of the cow and stood on the bull's head. As a result, Brother Niu had to give way to Brother Mouse, ranking second. Of course, this is just a legend. In recent years, another more reasonable and credible statement has become popular. As we know, animals have odd and even toes. No matter whether they are bipeds or quadrupeds, the number of toes is the same before and after, or left and right, but the mouse is the exception. It has four toes on the front foot and five toes on the back. Therefore, when arranging the zodiac signs, they are arranged according to the odd and even toes. Because the mouse feet are odd and even, they cannot be arranged. Next, there are cows with four toes, which are even, tiger feet with five toes, which are odd, free feet with four toes, even, dragon feet with five toes, odd, and snakes, because no feet without toes, actually even, horse feet with one toe, odd, sheep feet with four toes, even, monkey feet with five toes, odd, chicken feet with four toes, even, and dog feet. This idea of dividing by the odd-even number of toes has finally done justice for the mouse brother, washed away the injustice of "occupying a place" for many years, and enabled the mouse to hold its head high and show its elegance again in the coming year.
Another chapter of this story tells why cats and mice become enemies. At that time, the cat and the mouse were good friends. Before going to the mass meeting, they slept together and made an appointment to wake who would wake up first. I'm afraid the mouse got up early the next day and went to the meeting alone quietly, ignoring the cat. By the time the cat woke up and rushed to the congress, the Buddha had already assigned the twelve-year number. Since then, the cat and the mouse have forged a deep hatred.
Of course, the legend belongs to the legend, and the folklore scholar Guo Licheng's view can be proved by historical records. People call heavenly stems and earthly branches an animal that represents the twelfth birthday for the sake of remembering his famous age.
Zodiac totem:
Yan Fu, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, introduced the word "totem" to China. He translated the word "totem" into "totem" for the first time in 1903 when he translated the book "General Interpretation of Society" by British scholar Jenkesi, and became a common translation name in China academic circles.
Yan Fu pointed out in his comments that totem is the symbol of groups, aiming at distinguishing groups. It is believed that there were totem phenomena similar to those of Australians and Indians in ancient China. Using totem to explain myths, classical records and folk customs, we can often get the same result. So, what is a totem? Totem is the primitive superstition that an animal or natural thing is related to the clan, so it is used as the emblem or symbol of the clan.
The Yi people who live in Daliangshan, Sichuan, at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, still retain rich and historically profound knowledge of astronomy. Today is the day of the rat, tomorrow is the day of the ox, and the day of the tiger drives the street (market) and the day of the pig drives the street. In some places, temples of the Twelve Animals are built, and annual ceremonies are held to dance the Twelve Animals in a solemn atmosphere.
The proverb "When a mouse crosses the street, everyone shouts" shows that people generally hate mice. However, many clans and tribes in ancient times thought that their ancestor was a mouse, and they were proud that they were descendants of the mouse. They painted and carved the image of the mouse, and made long sacrifices during ceremonies or programs to pray for the protection of the mouse ancestors.
The Bai tiger clan thinks that its ancestor is a male white tiger, and the tiger will not hurt them. When you want to travel far away, you must choose the day when you belong to the tiger (Yin Day), thinking that only in this way can you do things with good luck. Some people come back from far away, and they must also calculate the exact date. Only the tiger day will enter the threshold.
The Bai Chicken Clan is said that their ancestors hatched from the eggs of Golden Flower Chicken, believing that the rooster knows good or bad and will bless them. When migrating, put things in a basket and put a rooster on it. After arriving in the newly moved area, the rooster will settle down where it crows. In their view, the place where the rooster crows is the most auspicious.
The dragon in China has the basic characteristics of totem, and it is a totem god worshipped by all ethnic groups. Explain in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "The dragon, the scale worm's length, can be quiet and bright, can be big and small, can be long and short, climb to the sky at the vernal equinox, and enter the deep at the autumnal equinox." Legend has it that the birth and appearance of Yandi, Huangdi, Yao, Shun and Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang are all related to dragons, which are dragon species and dragon sons. The ancient Vietnamese also thought they were dragons, so continuously tattoo was like dragons. To this day, we often say "descendants of the dragon" or "descendants of the dragon", which are the remnants of the concept of totem ancestors. As for the concept of dragon totem god, it is more common, and most ethnic groups once regarded dragons as protectors.
The wild boar god is the object of worship of hunters in the north, and it is listed as a great god among Manchu people, saying that it is taller than the mountain, and its hair is like a forest. The valleys in the mountain are all harmed by its fangs and it is the patron saint of the tribe.
There are Naxi people who regard cows as ancient creation beasts. In the Genesis of Dongbajing of Naxi nationality, it is described that this magical cow hatched from a giant egg in the sea broke through the ground with its horns and hoofs, causing the earth to shake. It was killed by the ancestors of Naxi nationality, the seven brothers and seven sisters who opened the ground, and the ox head was used to worship the sky, the cowhide, the meat, the earth, the bone, the stone, the ribs, the mountains, the blood, the sun, the liver and the moon. Thus, there will be a clear and bright sky, the sun and the moon, and a quiet world where everything grows. Since then, cows have been used as sacred objects to make sacrifices and sacrifices to the mountains and rivers of the world. Naxi people worship the cow god very much.
The worship of horses is mostly spread among nomads and hunters in the north. There is a myth of snow-white god horse circulating among Baoan people. Manchu has the custom of offering sacrifices to horse gods, and there are many records of offering sacrifices to horse gods and building horse temples in Qing literature. The Daur people call God Horse "Wengu". This kind of God Horse is not allowed for women to ride, but can be eaten and walked everywhere, and no one is allowed to drive it away. You can even eat seedlings at will in the fields. Most of the horses are all white, and the whole tail is full of manes. They are never trimmed, and colorful silks are often tied to the manes as a sign.
Sheep totem also occupies an important position in many ethnic groups. The ancient classic "Shan Hai Jing" describes an ancient immortal sheep that has no mouth and no food. Kazaks worship the goat god, which is called "Xie Ke Xie Ke A Ta". They believe that all the goats in the world belong to it, and it is sacrificed for the reproduction of goats. The worship of the sheep god is called "Shaopan Ata", which is in charge of all the sheep in the world. In the sacrifice, this god is asked to bless the sheep to be productive. Kirgiz people worship goats and call the goat god "Qilipan Ata", which is the first god to domesticate wild sheep and become domestic animals.
The Han nationality was one of the earliest nationalities who trained and raised dogs in ancient times. As early as Shan Hai Jing, there was a record that dogs could resist fierce attacks. The History of the Later Han Dynasty, Biography of Nan Man > The ancient Yao ancestor myth, that is, Pan Hu, the divine dog, helped Gao Xin's family in Di Ku to kill General Wu, and the daughter of Emperor Gao Xin's family married Pan Hu, which gave birth to Yao descendants, was described in the middle. As the ancestor myth of the clan, Pan Hu, the god dog who saved China, has always been regarded as the clan ancestor by the Mian branch of Yao nationality in Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, and was revered as "Pan Wang" and "Pan Hu Wang", which was not only sung orally, but also recorded in the genealogy. Manchu worshiped dogs since hunting, and regarded them as animals that were indebted to Manchu. Later, they were reunited with the legend that a righteous dog saved Nurhachi. So far, they have never eaten dog meat, beaten dogs or wore a dog skin hat.
The snake is one of the important totems of the ancient Yue people, and later evolved into a god. Wu Zhenfang's Miscellaneous Notes on Lingnan in Qing Dynasty said: "There is a snake god in Chaozhou, which looks like the south of the crown, and is called the Emperor of Heaven. There are snakes in the niche. If you want to see it, you must leave the temple and then go out, hovering around the tripod, or hanging on the rafters, or bearing it with bamboo poles, winding and knotting, not afraid that people will not become scary, three feet long, green and lovely. ..... Anyone who worships the gods, snakes often visit their homes. "Yixing people in Jiangsu divide snakes into domestic snakes and wild snakes, which are called" Liman "and" Waiman "respectively. The so-called domestic snake refers to a kind of snake that lives in a house. It is a harmless snake that often coils around beams, eaves, cracks in walls, corrugations and attics. It is about three feet long. People think that the domestic snake will protect people. With the domestic snake, the rice in the rice store will be full and not empty.
The surname Huang of Yao nationality in Nandan County, Guangxi, is said to be a female monkey, and the offspring born by the female monkey are all very strong. Later, there were ten suns and ten moons in the sky. It was too hot during the day and too bright at night, so people asked the descendants of the Huang family to shoot the sun and the moon in the sky. Later, nine suns and nine moons were laid. People were very grateful to the Huang brothers for this. Because the Huang brothers were born by the monkey mother, people also thanked the monkey mother. Later, in order to commemorate the monkey mother, Yao people in Dayaozhai have not only forbidden to beat monkeys and eat monkey meat, but also other surnames.
Anecdotes of Zodiac
[rat]
Anecdote: In the history of rats, there was a festival of rats marrying women. Generally, on the 25th night of the first month, every household doesn't light a lamp that night, and the whole family sits on the kang in the hall, silently eating food such as "mouse claws" made of flour in the dark. The purpose of silence is to provide convenience for mice to marry women, so as not to offend mice and bring hidden dangers to the coming year.
According to Taiwan Province folklore, the night of the third day of the first month is the wedding day of mice, and the folk paper-cut saying "mice get married" is a reflection of this folk custom. Therefore, people will go to bed in the morning without lighting a lamp in the middle of the night and scattering rice and salt on the ground, which will not affect the happy event of mice.
[ox]
Yuan Zhen, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "Born in Spring": "Outside the gate of Whipping Cattle County, there is a struggle for soil to cover spring silkworms." "Whip first" and then "contend" are two ancient folk words to send winter cold and welcome the new year. Whip spring cattle, also known as whip cattle, originated earlier. "Zhou Li? 6? 1 month order: "Unearth cattle to send cold air." Later, it has been preserved, but it was changed to spring and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Especially, after Song Renzong promulgated the "Tu Niu Jing", the custom of whipping Tu Niu spread more widely and even became an important part of folk culture.
China's ethnic minorities have the custom of expressing condolences to the oxen, which is called "offering oxen to the king". Buyi people in litchi, Luodian, Anlong and other places in Guizhou celebrate the New Year with the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. On that day, let the cows have a rest and eat glutinous rice. The Niuwang Festival of the Gelao people is also called "Niushen Festival", "Niuwang Bodhisattva Festival" and "Niuwang Sacrifice Festival", which is held on the first day of the tenth lunar month every year. On that day, people no longer let the cows work, and made two glutinous rice cakes, hung them on the horns, and then took the cows to the water to look after the shadows, in this way to celebrate their birthdays.
[Tiger]
The poem "Qian Miao Zhu Zhi Ci. Red Miao" written by Shu Wei, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, said: "Weave the silk and don't give it to others, and transfer it to the bronze drum to compete with the mountain gods. The two feelings are speechless, and the vacancy tonight is to avoid Yin." (Note: Red Miao only exists in Tongren Prefecture, and the clothes are made of bansi, which is the service of female Hong. Beating the bronze drum to inspire is called tuning the drum. On the fifth day of May every year, the couple stay up and dare not talk to each other, thinking that they are guilty of tiger injury. ) Yin is a tiger, who dares to violate the custom of avoiding Yin? If the husband and wife sleep in the same room on May Yin, the tiger will hurt him.
[rabbit]
"Qing Yi Lu Zhuan Zhuan" by Tao Gu in the Song Dynasty: "You are a pure rabbit." Rabbits make a living and belong to criminals. The ancients called rabbit meat soup a guilty soup.
In the Han nationality, there is a custom of avoiding rabbit meat when giving birth. Because rabbits are full of gaps, pregnant women fast rabbit meat during pregnancy to avoid gaps when their children are born. There is also the custom of giving rabbits pictures to raise children. In the picture, there are six children around a table, on which stands a man holding an auspicious picture of a rabbit, wishing the donated children a peaceful life and a step-by-step promotion in the future.
[dragon]
Many folk festivals in China are related to dragons. Wu Zimu, a Song Dynasty poet, described the Dragon Lantern in the Southern Song Dynasty in Dream of Liang Lu: "On the night of Lantern Festival ... the grass is tied into a dragon, covered with a green curtain, and there are thousands of lamps and candles, which look like a double dragon." February 2 of the lunar calendar is the "Dragon Head-lifting Festival" of the Han nationality. Folklore believes that the dragon that has been dormant for a winter is looking up on this day, and there will be more rain in the future. The Miscellaneous Notes of Wan Department written by Shen Bang, a Ming Dynasty, recorded that "February attracts dragons and smokes hundreds of insects": "Wan people call February 2nd as the dragon's head. Villagers use ash to spread cloth from the outside of the door into the kitchen and spin around the water tank, which is called "drawing dragons back." Spread pancakes with noodles, and smoke the bed to make the insects not born. " Due to the drought and lack of rain in the north of China, the dragon was introduced into the home, in order to have a good weather, so it also produced "February 2, the dragon looked up; A big warehouse is full, and a small warehouse flows. On this day, people eat pancakes from Longxu Noodles and Long Lin, dragon's ear cakes and so on.
[snake]
Due to the mild and humid climate in southern Fujian, it is suitable for all kinds of snakes to thrive. If a snake is found at home, it can't be killed. People think that the snake is sent by ancestors to patrol the safety, and whoever enters the house indicates the safety of the family. If you find several snakes coiled together on the roadside, you should quickly pull off one of your buttons to express your remorse, and then walk away as if you didn't see it. It is said that this is snake mating, and the viewer is a big rebellion. Every year, people in Guizhou avoid thunder, otherwise snakes and insects will be a disaster that year. As the folk saying goes, "There is thunder when you are startled, and there are many swarms of insects and snakes."
[horse]
There has been a folk custom of offering sacrifices to horses in China since ancient times.
Sacrifice Mazu in spring, animal husbandry in summer, horse club in autumn and horse stance just look in winter. Mazu is a heavenly ruler, a horse's star in the sky; Pasturing first is the god who began to teach people to herd horses; Horse club is the land god in the stable; And "ma bu" or horse stance just look is the god of horse disaster. The Han people believe in Ma Wangye, and the farmer made a sacrifice on June 23rd of the lunar calendar. The sacrifice was a whole sheep.
Mongolian people have traditional festivals such as Horse Milk Festival and Horse Racing Festival, which are held every year at the end of August of the lunar calendar for one day. On this day, herders put on holiday costumes, rode horses and brought koumiss respectively, and rushed to the designated place to prepare holiday food. Horse racing starts when the sun rises, and the horses participating in the race are two-year-old ponies. After the game, people took seats respectively, and with the accompaniment of Ma Touqin, they indulged in singing and drinking. It was not until the night fell that people dispersed with their leisure.
[sheep]
"Sheep" and "Xiang" have holidays. Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, said, "Sheep are auspicious, so they are used for auspicious purposes." Hanshu? 6? 1 annals of south Vietnam: "at the time of Wei Wei, there were five-colored sheep, which was considered auspicious." Guangzhou, known as the Yangcheng, originated from a wonderful legend: in Zhou Yiwang, five immortals came to Chuting (the ancient name of Guangzhou) riding five sheep with six strings of ears of grain, and presented them to people, wishing there would never be famine here. The immortal's words disappear, and the sheep turn to stone. "Guangzhou Ji" records: "In the Warring States period, Gao Gu was the Chu phase, and the five sheep held the ears of grain in the Chu court, so the hall and beams in Guangzhou painted the statues of the five sheep and made them into grain bags."
[Monkey]
"Searching for God" contains: "The king of Chu swims in the garden, and the white ape is in the clouds. Wang Lingshan shoots it, and the arrow is counted, and the ape laughs at it. It is the fate of the base, and the bow is touched by the base, and the ape will hold the wood and call. " This white ape can knock off the arrows one by one and still laugh. When the archer picked up the bow, the white ape knew that it was not good and hugged the tree and called. Here apes are personified, just as the theory of evolution tells people that human beings are transformed from apes.
The Han people generally think that monkeys are mascots. Because the monkey is homophonic with Hou, in many pictures, the image of the monkey means to seal Hou. For example, a monkey climbs on a maple tree and hangs a seal, which means "seal the weather and hang a seal"; A monkey is riding on horseback, which means "seal Hou at once"; Two monkeys are sitting on a pine tree, or one monkey is riding on the back of the other monkey, which means "generation is sealed".
[chicken]
The ancient timer has not yet been invented. The cock crows in the morning to report the beginning of a new day. It is not only the clock of the peasant family, but also the clock of the public life. During the Warring States Period, the famous Hangu Pass was opened and closed on the basis of cock crow. Meng Changjun, who fled down and out, faced with the closed gate, worried that the pursuer would arrive behind him. Among the diners, there were ventriloquists who learned to crow, crowed all the chickens at once, and cheated to open and close the door. This story was written in Historical Records by Sima Qian and passed down as a classic.
In ancient times, the Han nationality had the custom of "killing chickens", which was popular in Jinhua and Wuyi, Zhejiang Province. On the seventh day of July every year, the local people will kill the rooster, because the cowherd and the weaver girl will meet at the magpie bridge that night, and if there is no rooster to announce the dawn, they will never part.
[dog]
Zhu Bian's Old Story of Quhu in Song Dynasty recorded a story that dogs were forbidden to be slaughtered because the emperor was a dog: "In the early days of worshipping Ning, Fan Zhixu said,' The zodiac gods, dogs are in a position of life for your majesty. Nowadays, there are people who slaughter dogs in the capital, so it is advisable to ban them. " Because of the command, it is forbidden to keep dogs in the world, and the reward is up to 20 thousand. When Tai students first heard of it, there was a declaration to the public saying,' When moving to the DPRK, Xi, Feng and Shen Zong gave birth to children, but in those days, it was unheard of to ban livestock and cats.' In the meantime, there was a good arguer, who whispered in secret:' Dogs are in the five elements, and their interest in taking classes has its place. Now, they use taboo devices to make them valuable. If this is the case, as Hong Fan said, they will be worried about those who cannot speak.' "
In the old days, there was a festival custom of "herding dogs" among Han people. The "hairy dog" is the fox demon. According to legend, the demon swarmed out of Yue Bai on the 15th day of the first month, disturbing the living beings. On this night, people set up a dog shed and set it on fire. At the same time, they sounded gongs and drums and set off firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.
[pig]
Pigs are also called "Wujin", "Black-faced Lang" and "Black Grandpa". According to the report of the ruling and opposition parties, in the Tang Dynasty, people in Hongzhou raised pigs to get rich and called them "Wujin". The Tang Dynasty's Miscellaneous Notes of Yunxian quoted the Old Compilation of Chengping: "A black-faced lang is also called a pig." On the land of China, as early as the matriarchal clan commune, domestic animals such as pigs and dogs have been raised. The pottery pigs unearthed from Hemudu Neolithic Cultural Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province are very similar to the shape of domestic pigs now, indicating that the domestication of pigs had taken shape at that time.