After twelve years, the Year of the Rat is back. Rats, although not animals kept by humans, live under the same roof with us and have a very close relationship with us. As a result, we have been telling the story of the harmony of rats for generations, and we have formed a story of the harmony of rats.
why is the rat of the zodiac big?
when it comes to mice, the most important thing to show off is that it is at the head of the zodiac. As for why rats occupy such a prominent position, many people are not clear. Many explanations have been given to this question, and the following two are the most typical and interesting.
The Jade Emperor wants to arrange seats for twelve kinds of animals, and sends cats to inform the other eleven kinds of animals, among which there are no mice. The mouse overheard the cat's message to the cow, so it took the lead and secretly reported to the Heavenly Palace. The confused Jade Emperor did not know whether the mouse was true or false when he saw it, and now he was ranked first, but one who was informed became the second. Cats rushed to heaven after giving messages to other animals one by one. Twelve seats had been arranged, and there was no room for them, so the mouse of the zodiac became the boss, but there was no cat. Since then, the cat and the mouse have forged a great hatred, and they will chase after the mouse when they see it.
the other one is related to the date. It is said that one day, the Jade Emperor thought that it was good to use the heavenly stems and earthly branches calendar on earth, but where do ordinary people remember the meridian? Wouldn't it be popular and convenient to use animals instead? So I decided to hold a meeting to select the zodiac and issue a decree to inform all kinds of animals. At that time, the cat and the mouse used to live and eat together, and they were more than brothers. They were very happy to receive the order and agreed to go to the conference together. Because cats like to sleep, they often get up late in the morning, so on the eve of the meeting, they discussed with the mouse: "Brother Mouse, I'm afraid of oversleeping at the meeting tomorrow. Would you please call me in the morning?" The mouse said, "Mao Ge! No problem! You can rest assured that you have a good sleep! I will definitely call you then. " Hearing this, the cat said thank you, and really put down her heart and fell asleep. The next day, when it was still dark, the mouse got up and crept to freshen up, but did not wake the sleeping cat and left alone.
At daybreak, all kinds of animals came to the meeting place one after another, with unprecedented pomp. After careful consideration, the Jade Emperor selected 12 animals, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs, as human zodiac signs. After picking out twelve kinds of animals, the next step is the question of the order. At this time, there was an argument and everyone wanted to be the leader. The Jade Emperor seems to have a little headache, and I don't know how to arrange it is fair. Look at everyone's noisy, only honest and honest cows are at ease, and they are not excited at all. Now I had an idea and said, "Stop arguing. I'll decide the order. The cows among you are big and stable, let the cows do it. " Who dares to disobey the words of the Jade Emperor? Even the tiger, who has always been fierce and has self-esteem as the king of beasts, did not raise any objection although he was unhappy. Unexpectedly, the little mouse jumped out and squeaked and said, "I should be bigger and one of the rows!" " It is strange that it is the smallest of the twelve animals, so how can it claim to be bigger? There's something wrong with your mind.
the mouse said, "every time I appear, people who see me always scream, ah! What a big mouse, I have never heard of a big cow, which shows that I am bigger than a cow in people's minds. " Everyone is not convinced of the mouse's words, and the Jade Emperor is also suspicious. Why do people think that the mouse is bigger than the cow? The mouse suggested, "If you don't believe me, you can try it in a crowded place. If people say I am big, let me do it. How about that?" You can't go back on your word! " The people were suspicious, and the Jade Emperor agreed to give it a try, so he accompanied them to the human market. When the cow walked into the market, everyone turned a blind eye and continued their business. At this moment, the sly mouse suddenly climbed on the cow's back. When people at the market saw the mouse on the cow's back, they really exclaimed: "Oh, dear! What a big mouse! " The jade emperor heard everyone say this with his own ears, so he had no choice but to let the mouse do it, and the cow came second.
When the mouse became a member, he came back in high spirits and high spirits. At this moment, the cat just woke up, opened his sleepy eyes and stretched himself and said, "Brother Mouse, let's get ready for the meeting!" The mouse curled its mouth and said, "Are you still dreaming? The conference ended long ago, and I was one of them. " The cat was taken aback, all sleepy, wide-eyed and asked, "really?" Then why didn't you call me? Didn't we agree to go together? " The mouse calmly replied, "Oh! I forgot. " The cat was so angry that it was bearded and shouted, "Rat! You broke your word and promised to wake me up, so I slept peacefully, but I missed the big event. How can you compensate? " The mouse not only refused to admit his mistake, but also looked indifferent, sharp-tongued and sharp-tongued: "I don't owe you, why should I call you?" It is deliberately not called, so what? " This time, the cat was angry and said, "Ping timid, see how I can protect you. Today, there is no love and hatred!" " Since then, it is difficult for cats to hide their hatred when they see mice, and they want to kill them, which has become a feud for generations.
The above is only for ordinary people. In fact, the ranking of the zodiac has always been a topic discussed by scholars of all ages. Some scholars have found another way to draw conclusions from other angles. For example, Hong Xun, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, wrote a book called Gu Manlu, thinking that the shape of animals determines their order. The ancients thought that a day and night was divided into twelve hours. Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen and Xu are all yang (positive earthly branches), so take the odd number of the genus as the name. Rats, tigers, dragons, monkeys and dogs all have five toes, while horses are also single-hoofed, all of which are odd numbers; Ugly, ugly, unfinished, unitary, and sea are all yin (earthly branches), so take the even number of the genus as the name. Cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs all have four claws, rabbits have two claws, and snakes have two tongues, all of which are even numbers. In other words, the zodiac is selected according to the odd-even number of the toes of these animals. The mouse has four toes on the front foot and five toes on the back foot, which is quite special, so it is a cow (four toes), a tiger (five toes), a rabbit (four toes), a dragon (five toes), a snake (tongue without toes), a horse (one hoof), a sheep (four toes) and a monkey (five toes).
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a great scholar named Lang Ying, who made inferences based on the activity time of animals, that is, the habits of animals. He thought in the "Seven Revision Drafts" that in the middle of the day and night, at midnight (from 23: to 1: in the morning), the night was darkest, the mouse was the most active, and "Zi" was matched with the mouse; Ugly time (1: am to 3: am), during this time, the cows have eaten enough grass and are ready to come out to plow in the morning, so "ugly" is matched with cows; Yinshi (3 am to 5 am), it is said that the tiger is the fiercest at this time, so "Yin" matches the tiger; After five o'clock in the morning, Yuehua is still shining on the earth, so it is connected with Yuegong Jade Rabbit at the time of "Mao" (5 o'clock to 7 o'clock); Chen Shi (7: am to 9: am) is just when the dragons are raining, and "Chen" belongs to the dragon; Si Shi (9: to 11: ), at this time, even if the snake swims on the road, it will not hurt people, so "Si" is a snake; At noon (from 11: noon to 11: noon), the sun's spirit will ebb and flow, and it will be produced soon. Because horses are "yin" animals, they will be returned to horses at noon. Before noon (from 15: pm to 15: pm), sheep eat grass at this time, which will not affect the growth of grass, so it belongs to sheep when it is "not"; During the Shen time (15: to 17: ), monkeys like to crow, so let the monkeys match with the Shen time; When you are young, chickens begin to return to their nests, and when you are young (from 17: to 19: in the evening), they belong to chickens. At midnight (from 19: to 21: at night), the dog began to guard the portal, so it was with the dog when it was "squatting"; At the time of Hai (from 21: to 23: ), when all was silent, the pig slept the soundest, so he gave it to the pig. Such an explanation, starting from the posture and habits of animals, seems to have some truth, but it doesn't explain why animals should be used to match time. In addition, this explanation permeates the theory of five elements, which casts a mysterious color on the zodiac.
Why did rats enter the zodiac?
naming people after animals is gradually formed on the premise that our ancestors had a close relationship with these animals and these animals were related to the existence of our ancestors' lives. Why do humans have the idea of using animals as animal names? How did this ideology come into being? When exploring the history of the generation of human cultural consciousness, it is pointed out: "People must be able to live in order to' create history', but in order to live, they need clothes, food, shelter and other things first. Therefore, one of the historical activities is to produce materials that meet these needs, that is, to produce material life itself, and this is also what people must do every day and every hour just to be able to live. " It is on this historical premise that the cultural consciousness of human beings took place. In order to get the living materials, our ancestors asked for the living space, and hunting livestock became the main activity.
For our ancestors, the existence of livestock is really a vital event, which leads to contradictory psychological behaviors. We should not only eat them, but also worship them, praying that they can thrive and provide endless food and supplies for human beings, and the earliest animal taboos and totem worship were born. There is no doubt that the animals that people worship at first are the most common and closely related to people's lives, such as cattle, horses, dogs, sheep, chickens and dogs. In the eyes of primitive ancestors, their value is almost as important as human life, which can be seen in the customs spread in the later period. According to the Records of the Years of Jingchu compiled by Zong Gu in the Southern Dynasties, the newest and most beautiful days of the year gave way to some familiar animals: for example, the first birthday of the New Year's Day, the second birthday of the dog, the third birthday of the pig, the fourth birthday of the sheep, the fifth birthday of the cow and the sixth birthday of the horse, but human beings were very modest and put their birthdays on the seventh day.
The characteristics of animals themselves and their relationship with people determine the degree of people's worship of them and the criteria for being selected for the zodiac. There are no cats among the twelve animals in the zodiac, which is also caused by this. The reason is simple and clear. There were no cats in China in ancient times. Today's cats were later introduced from abroad. Cats that eat mice in our life originated in Sudan, Africa, and then spread to Egypt, and later spread from Egypt to other countries, including China. On the land of China, cats, as people's life partners, really joined later. People's relationship with it is far less intimate than that of animals such as cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, pigs and dogs. It seems incredible to take it as a zodiac.
Generally speaking, the animals listed in the Zodiac are closely related to the life and survival of our ancient ancestors and are admired by our ancestors. Cattle, horses, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs and rabbits needless to say, the dragon, snake and tiger itself is the dominant totem in integration. Although the dragon is virtual, its mysterious authority has been closely related to our survival six or seven thousand years ago. Monkeys are the only animals that are similar to humans, and it is inevitable to show them gifts. As for the mouse, although its virtue is not good, we should know that in ancient times, the intelligent mouse with quick action and rolling eyes was consistent with people's inner yearning and pursuit. People hate it because it often makes people helpless. Same-sex repulsion, but this can't damage its Excellence. In addition, its posture, physiology and activity habits have to make people look at each other. Therefore, there is no doubt that rats are included in the zodiac. Rats are popular with people because our ancestors directly felt that their existence was closely related to our human beings in the long-term life practice.
Bite "God of Wealth"
We all know an old saying, that is, "Everyone shouts when a mouse crosses the street", which shows how much people hate rats. Actually, everyone may not dare to shout when a mouse crosses the street.
The mouse is a "household" animal. For mice, the saying is very complicated. As we all know, because it bites bad things, steals food and spreads diseases, people hate it and think it is an ominous thing, which is listed as one of the "four evils". But things often have the opposite side. In some areas of our country, mice are regarded as animals, and two important events in life-bearing and getting rich-are closely related to mice.
It was widely spread in ancient times that "rats bite the sky". It was still in ancient times that the universe was not formed when there was a piece of heaven and earth. It was rats and others who came out in the middle of the night to bite it, which separated heaven and earth and formed the universe. Similar fairy tales are described in many stories in China, but the state of heaven and earth before opening is often expressed in symbolic ways such as gourd and golden drum. According to the myth of Lahu nationality, Esha, the god of creation, planted a gourd before the dawn of time. The gourd was old and rolled into the sea at the foot of the mountain. The crab dragged it ashore from the sea. After three days and nights of biting, the mouse finally bit through a hole in the gourd, and a man and a woman came out of the gourd. These are Zadi and Nadi, the ancestors of human beings after the flood of Lahu nationality, and the mouse won the privilege of food. This fairy tale also shows that rats are the heroes of land reclamation, helping human beings to regenerate and reproduce. Other animals in the zodiac are basically unrelated to this kind of creation and creation. From this point of view, it is enough to prove the lofty position of rats in the eyes of the ancients.
The Palace Museum has an Atlas of the Twelve Zodiacs, which is the work of Ren Yu, a famous painter in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, the picture of the mouse shows five mice grabbing the melon seeds (which must be gourd seeds) scattered in the jar. In the Chinese zodiac, the mouse belongs to the child, and the seed of melon seed has the same sound as the consonant, both of which express the meaning of multiple children. Rats have extremely strong reproductive ability, and melon seeds are also a large number of growing plant seeds, so the picture of mice has become a symbol of more children and more happiness.
The combination of mice and some plants is also a common auspicious pattern. Such as "mouse and gourd", "mouse and grape" and "mouse and pomegranate" are the common themes of paper-cutting and New Year pictures. In these themes, mice have become the object of worship. Rats have amazing fertility. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, rats are born in January, and they have many children at one birth, and many of them actually reach nearly 2. This kind of fast and abundant fertility really makes people who are eager to have many children yearn for it. Therefore, rats are regarded as a symbol of having many children and grandchildren. And gourds, grapes, and pomegranates are also prolific. Therefore, people put mice together with these things and strengthen their desire to reproduce.
There are also some interesting auspicious pictures that show the same theme. For example, "the mouse steals the pumpkin", which means that the melon is dense; "Rats steal Chinese cabbage" because rats are metaphorical of "Zi", and the word "white" of Chinese cabbage is homophonic of "Bai", which means "Bai Zi". There is another kind of "the mouse uncovers the bowl", which also means the concept of worship. Paper-cut patterns, such as bowl-covering and bowl-buckling, which are common in weddings, mean "the joy of marriage". In some places in North China, the wedding custom is to unveil the bowl in the kitchen, which is a metaphor for the idea that men and women want each other.
Rats are not only related to human fertility, but also related to getting rich. There are some reasonable places to give birth to mice, but it is incredible that mice are honored as "God of Wealth", because mice were originally specialized in other people's property.
The custom of honoring rats as "God of Wealth" is so common that people even welcome it. Because in the past, most of the labor (mainly farmers) was at home.