First of all, a brief introduction.

1, Dragon, according to legend, Pengbirds can fly to Wan Li, and only dragons can fly in the zodiac, so Pengcheng Wan Li is the dragon in the zodiac. Dragon is a magical animal in the myths and legends of China and other East Asian regions, which is often used to symbolize good luck. There are many stories about the origin of dragons. Inferred from Wen Yiduo, the clan with snake as totem has successively merged many other totem clans, forming a clan with snake as the main body.

2. It has a horse's head, a noisy tail, antlers, dog claws, fish scales and a dragon totem that must be mixed "; Zodiac is twelve kinds of animals that match the twelve branches in China, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs.

3. Zodiac animals are not only integrated into people's lives as ordinary creatures in China, but their natural habits are endowed with many cultural meanings, from animals to gods, and they are respected and worshipped by people. Only the combination of natural creatures and cultural gods can form a complete impression of China Zodiac animals.

Second, the zodiac

1 and the origin of the zodiac are related to animal worship. According to the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Shuihudi, Hubei Province and Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, there was a relatively complete zodiac system in the pre-Qin period. The earliest handed down document that recorded the same Chinese zodiac as the modern one was Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

2. The zodiac is an intuitive representation of the twelve earthly branches, namely, Zi (mouse), Ugly (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei (sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken) and Xu.

3. Each zodiac has rich legends, forming a conceptual interpretation system and becoming an image philosophy in folk culture, such as the zodiac in marriage, praying at temple fairs, the year of the animal, and so on. In modern times, more people regard the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of entertainment and cultural activities.

Third, take the number

1, the zodiac takes twelve, which coincides with the ancient people's inductive understanding of natural phenomena. China ancestors felt the cycle of alternating cold and summer, and plants withered and flourished, which was called "one year old". The moon's profit and loss cycle is also related to "age"-twelve full moons are exactly one year old. With Jupiter as the annual cycle, the period of revolution of the "old star" happens to be twelve years.

2. "Zhou Li Chun Guan von Shi Xiang" says: "The palm of your hand is two years old, the palm of your hand is two months old, and the palm of your hand is two days old." In addition to counting the years and months, twelve is also used to measure the time. Twelve is also often used in other aspects. "Zuo Zhuan's seven years of mourning for the public" says, "Zhou Wang did things right, but there were only twelve. I thought there were many days. "

3, "Mandarin in this four" records that "the Yellow Emperor has twenty-five sons, and fourteen sons have surnames, which are twelve surnames". "The Biography of Gou Shuang in the Later Han Dynasty" said: "Therefore, the son of heaven married twelve women, and the number of days was also. There is an equal difference below the princes. "