What does January of the lunar calendar have to do with mice? First, let's take a look at what the ancients were doing in January.
Just after the Spring Festival in January, the weather is cold. It's winter at home except visiting relatives and friends. Before winter, people stored a lot of food, not only people but also mice. In winter, it is difficult for mice to find food outdoors, so their activities become very "eye-catching". There is a folk saying in Jinan: Mouse, mouse, come early on January 1st. In many areas of our country, there is a saying that rats marry women in the first month, which is a reflection of the frequent activities of rats in January. The ancients associated mice with January to remind people to beware of mice, and later it was extended to imply that people should not waste time. Its logical order is rats-prevent rats-repair doors and windows cabinets-repair other utensils. It implies that people should not be idle even at home in winter, and can do things that they can't usually take care of.
February corresponds to cattle. In some places, the first day of February is regarded as the Spring Festival, and people are asked to "be lazy" and "eat Yangchun cakes", indicating that they should work hard. In Song Dynasty, Ceng Gong wrote in "Walking North on February 8th" that "I will be promoted from Gaoting to Zhu Bei, and I want to take a long time to start spring ploughing." February is a good season for spring ploughing, and cattle are the helpers of cultivated land, so it is most appropriate to use cattle to refer to spring ploughing. Cattle are associated with February to remind people to plow their fields in spring in time and not to miss the busy farming season.
The third place in the zodiac is the tiger, which was originally regarded as the god of four images, corresponding to the west, and then combined with the theory of yin and yang and five elements, the concept of white tiger appeared. In ancient legends, the white tiger is the god of war, with magical powers such as exorcism and disaster relief. The white tiger is related to March, which means offering sacrifices. Sacrifice was a very important thing in ancient times. As the saying goes, "the great event of the country lies in worship and martial arts" (Zuo Zhuan). Thirteen years into a public ") will sacrifice and war side by side in the front, can be seen.
But unlike other parts of the world, our ancestors were sacrificed in the early days, not the gods. (China's ancestor worship even suppressed and delayed the spread of early religion. In fact, before Buddhism was introduced, China had not formed a widely unified religious belief. Not only does the state attach importance to sacrifice, but it is also an important event to sacrifice ancestors among ordinary people.
For example, in ancient times, when a house caught fire, the first thing to be rescued was not property but ancestral tablets; For some reason, the family can move without other things, and the ancestral tablets must be brought with them. For another example, villages in the west are built around churches, while villages in China are built around ancestral temples (places where ancestors are sacrificed). Today's China people also have the habit of Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping, but compared with the ancients, it is far from the attention and realm.
Here is a passage: "When Song Gaozong moved south to Hangzhou, Yang Xuan was made a corps commander and lived in Lin 'an. Because his father (Zhong Xianggong Yang Bangyi) was buried in Jiankang, every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the whole family went to the cemetery to offer sacrifices. In order to facilitate the sacrifice, Yang Xuan built a villa in Hongshan, Wuxi, between Ning Hang, as a resting place on the way to sacrifice. "Note 3: The villa was built on the way to the grave, not only because of wealth, but also because of concern.
Next is the rabbit, which means hunting. In April, plants grow and spring warms bloom, which is a good time for hunting. Is hunting important? Why did you bring it up?
Take 1965 "bronze pot with banquet pattern" unearthed from the Warring States Tomb in Baihuatan, Chengdu, Sichuan as an example. The design of the pot body is divided into four layers, and each layer is related to archery (shooting, shooting and hunting). Not only that, hunting scenes are everywhere in ancient literary works or other artifacts. As far as hunting is concerned, it can be big or small. The simplest one is similar to an outing, and the older one is Shi's Jiangchengzi. "Hunting in Mizhou" is "yellow on the left, pale on the right, sable with golden hat, riding a flat hill for thousands".
Bigger ones, such as Autumn Fairy of Mulan, which Emperor Kanggan was very keen on, have risen to the national level, similar to today's military exercises. Of course, the biggest scene is Cao Cao's sentence "Hunting in the East of the River" in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which calls the war of dumping the country "hunting", showing great pride and feeling that the world is in my hands. Needless to say, the relationship between rabbits and hunting is worth mentioning. Before he died, Reese said to his son, "If I want to lead another yellow dog, I will go to the East Gate of Shangcai to chase a sly rabbit. How can I get it? " I'm embarrassed to hear that.
Ranked fifth is the dragon. Unlike other animals in the zodiac, the dragon is an "artificial" animal, so it can only play a symbolic role. In ancient mythology, one of the main "functions" of dragons is to raise clouds and distribute rain. The dragon here means that people pray for good weather. For a farming civilization, fine weather is needed all year round. Why should it be mentioned at this time?
Because the harvest season is coming. The mango in the twenty-four solar terms is in the fifth month of the lunar calendar. The original meaning of awn seed refers to the maturity of awned plants (such as wheat). In fact, until today, farmers still pay special attention to the weather during the harvest season. The more you gain, the more uneasy you are, which shows the psychology of the ancients.
Next is June. According to the climate characteristics of our country, June is the high season of rainstorm and flood. People should guard against storms and floods, such as repairing houses and river banks. June corresponds to snakes. What does snakes have to do with June?
Among the Zodiac animals, the appearance of snakes is quite abrupt. Throughout the animals in the zodiac, the author divides them into four categories: one is closely related to human production and life, that is, horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs; One is the common animals in life, such as mice and rabbits; One is that although it is not common, people are psychologically familiar with dragons and tigers; Finally, the more abrupt snake monkey has nothing to do with production and life. I'm not familiar with them, and I can't even say what I like. So why are they included in the zodiac?
Here are two examples, both of which were reported in last year's news: First, floods and snakes raged in Australia; Secondly, the floods in some areas of China caused the shortage of Hangzhou snake venom serum. The scientific explanation is that the snake nest is flooded and snakes are running around. At this time, snakes are often "violent" and aggressive, so it is still appropriate to use snakes to refer to June. The flood caused snakes to be very active, so people should be both waterproof and snake-proof.
Next is the horse, which means war here. It is not surprising to associate horses with war. What needs to be explained is why it is July. This is the situation of ancient wars. The two very important factors of war in the cold weapon era are people and food, which were basically in a state of small country and few people before the Spring and Autumn Period. Productivity is underdeveloped, and a large number of people must directly engage in production (mainly planting) to survive. Therefore, there were very few professional soldiers at that time, and a large number of them were pulling farmers to make up the numbers during the war. Therefore, at that time, wars were often fought in the slack season after grain harvest. Of course, war is easy to happen, which doesn't mean it will happen, but this time can be used to train the army and build fortifications.
August corresponds to sheep, and the sheep here refers to a feast.
Why do sheep mean feasting? The staple food of ancient literati and nobles was meat. At that time, pigs were regarded as "dirty dogs", cows were important production tools, and sheep became common food for feasts because of their delicious taste. In addition, sheep grew fat and strong in June and July after abundant water plants.
Supposedly, it is very common to entertain nobles every month. Why is it put forward in August in particular? If you associate the feast with the July War, you will find that the feast here means a celebration feast. Fighting in July and celebrating in August so soon? This has to talk about the characteristics of ancient wars, because small countries with few people, underdeveloped productive forces and lack of materials could not support long-term large-scale wars, so the characteristics of wars at that time were short, peaceful and fast. At that time, the literature about wars recorded that many wars ended in three days, and there were few long-term confrontations, because no one could afford to fight.
September corresponds to monkeys, and the author thinks that linking monkeys with September is climbing mountains.
Wang Wei made it very clear in "Thinking of Brothers in Shandong on Vacation in the Mountain": "You know where your brother climbs, there is one less person." The custom of climbing mountains in autumn has existed since ancient times, and the motif of climbing mountains appeared in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties. At this time, the aesthetic effect of mountain climbing in the works is to pay equal attention to "swimming" and "viewing", and the emotional feature is mixed sadness and joy. Among them, the first emotional content of climbers is homesickness (Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period), followed by homesickness (Warring States Period), and the content of homesickness began to appear in the Han Dynasty. Note 4
There are two reasons to associate monkeys with mountain climbing: first, peaches are ripe in September, the weather is cool and monkeys are active; Second, there is a habit of standing on the treetops overlooking. Of course, climbing in September can also be extended to imply that people should pay attention to exercise.
October corresponds to chicken, where chicken refers to fighting chicken, which is a common entertainment activity of the ancients. The so-called call friends, fighting cocks and running dogs. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Ji's Youth Travel "won a nod every day in the cockfighting city".
"Zuo Zhuan Zhao Zhuan Gong Twenty-five Years": "Chicken fights between season and autumn." . Ji introduced his chicken, and Li was the golden distance. "Ping Zi was very angry, so he gave Qiu's palace a favor and let it go. This cockfighting became the fuse, which triggered a series of political events and led to social unrest. So what is the relationship between cockfighting and October? Chen Haozi wrote Reading Glasses in Qing Dynasty. There is a saying in Chicken: In every battle, although it will last until death, kind people will breed it and start gambling in late autumn.
Cockfighting takes about ten months from birth to battle. The so-called "chicken comes into October with four leaves together" (full-fledged). In addition, taking the cockfighting in Kaifeng as an example, the custom of cockfighting in Kaifeng is on the first day of the tenth lunar month, that is, the first fight, which is called "head running" or "head fighting". Note 5 So cockfighting is extended to entertainment here.
November corresponds to dogs. Let's talk about the role of dogs in the ancients, mainly including: 1. Guarding the homeland; 2. watch; 3. hunting; Step 4 eat. The first two kinds can be used all year round. 1 1 Hunting in early winter is a bit late, so according to the exclusion method, the role of dogs here is to eat.
The ancients paid attention to winter tonic, and it was the right time to eat dog meat. There is a folk cloud: Sanjiu dog meat is ten fragrant; Dog meat rolls three times, and the fairy can't stand. The theory of ancient Chinese medicine also has a full understanding of dog meat, which is mentioned in Compendium of Materia Medica and Qian Jin Fang Yao. Dog meat is not only a food tonic, but also a medicine tonic. Of course, 1 1 mentioned dog meat not only for eating, but also to remind people to pay attention to health.
The last animal of the zodiac is the pig, which was called "tapir" in ancient times and played an important role in China. The Chinese character "home" is composed of a house and a pig. If the house is an important real estate, then the pig is an important movable property. Until 1980s, pigs were still the important property of many families in rural areas of China. If there is no special reason, it will be slaughtered or sold until the New Year. The pig here means empty, expressing prayer or expectation, hoping to be rich and healthy.
Finally, the meaning of the Chinese zodiac corresponding to December is summarized:
January-Mouse-Diligence
February-Cattle industry
March-Tiger-Sacrifice
April-rabbit hunting
May Dragon Harvest Festival
June-snake-flood
Horse race in July
August mutton feast
September-Monkey-Mountain Climbing
October-Chicken-Entertainment
November-Dogs-Stay Healthy
December-Pig-Ankang