From the above literature records, it is clear that the origin of zodiac culture is in China. According to the external view of the zodiac, the zodiac was introduced to China from the Middle East during the Han Dynasty, about the same time as Buddhism was introduced. From the above documents, we have proven that there were records about the zodiac in my country as early as the Spring and Autumn Period ("Rishu" and "The Book of Songs") ), indicating that the birth of the zodiac and the matching of the zodiac and the earthly branches occurred long before the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the zodiac is an ancient culture that originated in our country. So what is the origin of the zodiac? Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals? This issue has always attracted the attention of scholars, and various explanations have been made. Some scholars believe that the zodiac originated from animal worship in primitive times. Mr. Zhang Binglun of the University of Science and Technology of China holds this view. He believes that in primitive societies with low productivity and extremely limited ability to understand nature, they develop a sense of dependence on animals that are closely related to their own lives (such as horses, sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, etc.), and develop a sense of dependence on animals that endanger their own safety. A sense of fear (such as tigers and snakes), and a sense of reverence for some animal organ functions that exceed humans (such as a dog's sense of smell, etc.), leading to the worship of animals. The twelve zodiac animals are the animal calendars produced by people under the influence of the original belief in animal worship to mark the years and months. The animal worship of primitive people is also reflected in primitive dances such as Nuo dance. Nuo originated around the Zhou Dynasty. The protagonists in the Nuo ceremony are Fang Xiangshi and the twelve sacred beasts. The selection of twelve animals in the exorcism dance is an expression of primitive people's reverence for animals. The twelve beasts (or twelve gods) selected in the Nuo ceremony are to take care of the twelve months of the year, to seek peace every month, to drive away plague ghosts from all directions, and to take care of the twelve directions. Of course, the twelve directions involve twelve branches, so they are linked to the twelve zodiac signs. The twelve zodiac signs in the exorcism ceremony are used to turn bad luck into good luck. It can be seen from this that the twelve divine beasts and the twelve zodiac signs are of the same origin, and their common source is primitive animal worship. Ethnologist Mr. Liu Yaohan believes that the twelve zodiac signs are related to the Yi people's "Twelve Beasts" calendar and the "October Calendar". The Yi people who live in the Daliang Mountain area of ??Sichuan have a calendar based on twelve animals. They mark their days with twelve animals. Today is the day of the rat, tomorrow is the day of the ox, and so on. Three rounds are used to make a month, which counts thirty. Six days, thirty-six days in a month, and ten months in a year. This was the later "October Calendar". Mr. Liu Yaohan believes that the ten-month calendar based on the twelve zodiac signs came into being in the Xia Yu era (see Liu Yaohan's "Collection of Research on the Social History of the Yi Nationality") and is related to primitive totem worship. The twelve zodiac signs of the Han people are influenced by the "October Calendar" Due to the influence of the Yi people, the twelve animals later developed into the twelve zodiac signs. When talking about the origin of the zodiac, we must connect the zodiac signs with the heavenly stems and earthly branches. The oldest existing list of stems and branches in my country unearthed at the Yin Ruins in Anyang in modern times shows that the stem and branch calendar was already proficient in the Yin and Shang dynasties. Later, as time went by, the functions of the stems and branches gradually diversified. As a label serving as a time unit, on the one hand, it expanded and was used to record the year; on the other hand, it shrank and was used to record the time (the twelve hours of a day). According to historical records and research, the zodiac appeared after the establishment of the "Stem and Branch Calendar". The twelve animals correspond to the twelve earthly branches one by one, and animals are used as symbols of the earthly branches. A person born in a year has an animal assigned to the earthly branch of that year. Twelve animals are used to record the year, date and calculate the zodiac sign of each person. It can be seen from this that the twelve zodiac signs and the twelve earthly branches are inseparable. For a long time, scholars have discovered that the ancient characters for the twelve branches contain information about the zodiac. They compared the twelve branches with the ancient characters for the twelve zodiac signs and found that the ancient characters for the twelve branches have some connection with the twelve animals. Careful observation can reveal that there are indeed similarities and minor differences. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty mentioned in "Shuowen Jiezi" that the character "Ji" is the pictogram of snake, as well as "Hai" and "豕". Recent studies have also verified that the characters for earthly branches and zodiac characters in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions are similar, which makes people wonder whether the twelve branches are the pictograms of the twelve zodiac animals. Since the twelve branches, ugly, Yinmao, are easy to remember, people use twelve animals instead. , using animals to borrow ordinal symbols, and matching with the earthly branches, it became a symbol system for chronology.Worshiping the natal star has become a custom that has been passed down to this day. Every year on the seventh and eighth day of the first lunar month, Beijingers go to the Yuanchen Hall of Baiyun Temple to "sacrifice the stars", burn incense and worship to their respective natal stars, and pray for a safe year, that is, "follow the stars" ”, which means that even if you encounter an unfavorable year, you can turn it into success by receiving the protection of your natal god through prayer. The above sixty natal gods enshrined in the temple are all heavily colored clay sculptures, and they are all seated figures, incorporating the animal images of their respective zodiac signs. Some of the names of the sixty statues are real historical figures, and their images bear obvious zodiac signs, such as: Jiazi, Taisui, Jinsui, Jinsui, General, Rat, and Peach. From Taoism’s content about natal gods and sixty-year-olds, we can see the mutual integration relationship between zodiac belief and Taoism. Taoism believes in Laozi’s “Tao” and believes that “Tao” is omnipresent and is the beginning of everything. Everything in the world is made up of It transforms and governs life, and life is no exception. The concept of sixty years when the zodiac signs match the heavenly stems and earthly branches is a manifestation of the fusion of the zodiac signs and Taoist beliefs. People worship the god of Yuanchen in order to pray for the gods’ blessing and peace. As one wishes. From here we can see that the zodiac sign has become a factor that dominates people's lives and has become a part of life beliefs. 4. The twelve zodiac signs of various ethnic groups. In China, a multi-ethnic country, the zodiac signs are not exclusive to the Han people. Many ethnic minorities use the twelve zodiac signs to record their years. First, let’s take a look at the comparison table of the twelve zodiac signs of various ethnic groups. Comparison table of the twelve zodiac signs of each ethnic group The twelve animals of the Yi ethnic group in western Guangxi: dragon, phoenix, horse, ant, human, chicken, dog, pig, bird, cow, tiger, snake The twelve animals of the Yi ethnic group in Ailao Mountain: tiger, rabbit, pangolin , snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rat, cow. Twelve beasts of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Yi people: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig. Hainan Li people Twelve beasts: chicken, dog, pig, rat, cow, insect, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey. , chicken, dog, elephant The twelve animals of the Guangxi Zhuang people: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig The twelve animals of the Mongolian people: tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse , sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rat, and cow. The twelve beasts of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, fish, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. The twelve beasts of the Kirgiz people: Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, fish, snake, horse, sheep, fox, chicken, dog, pig. From the above table, we can see that the twelve zodiac animals of many ethnic minorities in my country, such as Mongolian, Zhuang, and some Yi people, are influenced by the Han people and are different from the Han people. Basically the same. However, some ethnic groups have developed some variations while accepting the Han zodiac culture. The Yi people in Ailao Mountain use the pangolin to occupy the position of the dragon in the zodiac series; the Kirgiz people in Xinjiang use fish instead of the dragon in the zodiac series. A fox is used instead of a monkey; compatriots of the Li ethnic group in Hainan use twelve zodiac animals to mark the day, with chicken as the first sign and monkey as the tail; the Dai people living in the Xishuangbanna area use oxen instead of cattle and goats as sheep. Hai's zodiac sign is not pig but elephant. . It can be roughly seen from the above changes that when various ethnic groups choose the zodiac animals, due to different living environments and different species, they choose the closest animals as the zodiac animals, which brings certain differences to the zodiac culture. In addition to variations in the selection of zodiac animals, ethnic minorities have also developed their own different methods of counting years and dates, and have also produced many folk customs related to the zodiac. (1) The Twelve Zodiac Signs of the Yi People in Liangshan The Yi people use a universal twelve animal calendar, also called the Twelve Zodiac Calendar. There are legends about the origin of the Yi people’s twelve zodiac signs (animal calendar) in the ancient Yi epic "Leoteyi" and among the Yi people. 〖ZW (〗See Wang Changfu's "Etiquette and Customs of the Yi People in Liangshan"〖ZW)〗The Yi people living in Liangshan area of ??Sichuan use rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, Dog and Pig. Each animal name has one year, and one cycle lasts twelve years. There is a convenient formula for calculating years and ages: "One round is thirteen, two rounds are twenty-five, three rounds are thirty-seven, four rounds are four Nineteen, five rounds of sixty-one, six rounds of seventy-three..." and so on. The Yi people in Liangshan also use twelve zodiac animals to mark the year, including rat month, ox month, tiger month, rabbit month, dragon month, snake month, horse month, sheep month, monkey month, rooster month, dog month and pig month. Twelve months.
The big month of each month has thirty days, and the small month has twenty-nine days. The big month and the small month are determined according to whether the moon of the previous month is fifteen or sixteen. The fifteen-round moon is a small moon and twenty-nine days, and the sixteen-round moon is a big moon. Thirty days. However, the first month used in different places is different. Some places use the Horse month as the first month, some places use the Sheep month as the first month, and some places use the Monkey month as the first month. The method of recording dates also uses twelve beasts. Twelve days form a cycle, which is not limited by years and months (including leap months). It can be postponed indefinitely and never ends. The calendar of the twelve zodiac signs of the Yi people is also used in folk witchcraft for fortune-telling. The Yi people in Liangshan believe that people are closely related to the five elements of wood, fire, earth, iron and water, and people can only live in harmony with them. , is the destiny of talent. The destiny of human beings lies in the ten kinds of destiny formed by the combination of five elements and "male" and "mother", namely "wood male", "wood mother", "fire male", "fire mother" and "earth male". The harmony of "Tou Mu", "Tiegong", "Iron Mu", "Shui Gong" and "Jellyfish" is called "Te Bu Te Mo". "Te" means harmony, "Bu" means Yang, and "Te Bu Te Mo" means harmony. "Mo" is yin, and it is believed that the above ten fates are harmonious combinations of yin and yang. In addition, ten kinds of destiny are matched with twelve zodiac signs to form a "chronological periodic table", which is used to calculate people's destiny with a sixty-year periodic table. The twelve zodiac signs of the Yi people are also used in marriage. The Yi people attach great importance to ethnicity, class and other conditions when choosing a mate and getting engaged. In addition, it is also important whether the birth dates of the man and woman are consistent. The folk saying goes: "Rabbit, pig and sheep follow each other, and cattle follow each other." Snakes and chickens accompany each other, dogs, horses, and tigers are compatible, and monkeys, dragons, and rats are compatible." Those who match the above formula are considered compatible. If they don't match, it is not very strict. The most taboo is for people born in the year of tiger to be matched with those born under the year of chicken or sheep. It is taboo that "the tiger comes to eat the chicken and the sheep." . (2) The Twelve Zodiac Signs of the Dai Nationality According to Mr. Zhang Gongjin’s point of view, around the time of the Han Dynasty, the Han nationality’s method of tracking time with stems and branches was gradually introduced into the Dai area, and this method of tracking time with stems and branches has been in use to this day (see Zhang Gongjin’s “Dai Culture”, Jilin Education Publishing House Published by the Society in 1986) is still an important part of the Dai calendar. The method is the same as that of the lunar calendar, which is to match the ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches to form sixty years. These sixty numbers are used to record the years and days, and at the same time, the twelve earthly branches are used to record the months. Probably not long after the stems and branches were introduced into the Dai area, the twelve zodiac signs of the Han people were also introduced. The twelve zodiac animals of the Dai people are slightly different in different places. In Dehong area, they are exactly the same as those of the Han people. In Xishuangbanna, "pig" was changed to "elephant" , the dragon is a "big snake" or a "dragon", which is slightly different. The twelve zodiac animals used by the Dai people are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, serpent, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and elephant. In Xishuangbanna and other places, the twelve zodiac signs match the earthly branches and are used not only to mark the year, but also to mark the month and day, such as the Year of the Rat Bone〖ZW(〗 In the Dai calendar, "bone" is the year and "blood" is the month. "Skin" is the sun. 〖ZW)〗, ox bone in the Chou year, tiger bone in the Yin year; rabbit blood in April, snake blood in June, horse blood in July; monkey skin in Shenri, chicken skin in Youri, etc. It can be seen that after the twelve zodiac signs in the Han lunar calendar were absorbed into the Dai calendar, their use range is wider than that of the lunar calendar. (3) Tibetan Zodiac Traditionally, the Tibetan zodiac system was introduced by Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty when she married Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century AD. According to the Tibetan zodiac, sixty years is a period of one year, which is called "Huiteng" in Tibetan, which means wood rat. The sixty years of Tibetan people start from the year of the wood rat, which is equivalent to the year of the year of the Han people. The Tibetan zodiac calendar has the characteristics of integrating yin and yang, the five elements, and animals, so it is called "Yin Fire Rabbit Year", "Yang Earth Dragon Year", and "Yang Gold Monkey Year". The Tibetan zodiac calendar has a corresponding relationship with the yin and yang and the five elements, with the ten heavenly stems, with A and B as wood, Bing and Ding as fire, Wu and Ji as earth, Geng and Xin as gold, and Ren and Gui as water. Of the above five pairs, the former in each pair is Yang and the latter is Yin. Although the Tibetan calendar does not clearly indicate the heavenly stems and earthly branches, it implies the order of the stems and branches. In addition, in the Tibetan calendar, male and female are used instead of yin and yang. For example, the yin year of the Golden Ox is also called the female year of the Taurus, and the yang year of the water tiger is also called the male year of the water tiger. (4) The twelve zodiac signs of the Naxi people The Naxi people are an ethnic minority living in Yunnan Province and are a branch of the ancient Qiang people. The Naxi people also use the zodiac to mark their days, with a unique method and directions.
They divided the twelve months of the year into big and small months, with 30 days in each month. The first day of a single month is the monkey day. According to monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, In the order of Horse and Sheep, the 29th day of a single month is the Rat day; when entering a double month, the first day of the double month is separated by the Ox day and is designated as the Tiger day.