When the New Year's bell rings, we also officially bid farewell to the Year of the Pig and enter the Year of the Rat. Whether it is a pig or a mouse, these animals and nian will have a special name when they meet - "zodiac sign". The zodiac sign is also known as the twelve year beast, which refers to the Chinese calendar that there are twelve year beasts on duty in turn, and the first of the twelve year beasts is the protagonist we want to talk about today: the mouse.
< h2 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > zodiac sign, why are rats ranked first? </h2>
Walking into Chuanbo, you will be greeted by a strong New Year's atmosphere, in addition to cultural relics, under the skillful arrangement of the staff, inadvertently, you will encounter a small surprise in the corner - this year's new protagonist, the mouse.
Origin: Pre-Qin period
According to the feelings of today's people for rats, to say why rats can be ranked first in the zodiac, I believe many people doubt whether there is any "black box operation", in the folk stories, some say that rats run fast, in the celestial race conference, so ranked first; some say that rats coincidentally nibble candles, help the Yellow Emperor find the enemy hidden in the candle gunpowder and thus defeat the opponent, so the Yellow Emperor was named the first of the zodiac; some said that rats play tricks, using the mistakes of other animals to enter the zodiac list, And so on, and so on. Although folk tales cannot be used for examination, it also shows that many people have doubts about the ranking of rats in the zodiac, in fact, to know the ranking basis of the zodiac, we have to start from the pre-Qin.
Shanghai Museum Collection: Statue of the Jade Rat Zhishen (Modern Era)
The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship, according to the Hubei Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land and Gansu Tianshui FangmaTan unearthed qin jian can be seen, the pre-Qin period that there is a relatively complete zodiac system, the earliest record of the same zodiac with modern times is the Eastern Han Dynasty Wang Chong's "On Balance".
The "Treatise on Balance" mentions: "Yin Mu ye, its poultry and tiger also; Shu Tu also, its poultry and dogs also; ugly not also tuye, ugly poultry cattle, unfowl sheep also." Wood wins the earth, so dogs and cattle and sheep are obeyed by tigers. Hai Shui also, its birds and pigs also; The fire also, its poultry and snakes also; The son also water, its poultry and rats also; the noon also fire, its poultry and horses also... Noon horse also, sub-rat also, unitary chicken also, 卯 rabbit also. Water is better than fire, why don't rats chase horses? Jin Shengmu, why don't chickens peck rabbits? Hai Feng also, ungodly sheep also, ugly cow also. Soil wins water, why don't cattle and sheep kill pigs? Snake also, Shen Monkey also. Fire wins gold, why don't snakes eat macaques? The Zodiac is the figurative representative of the Twelve Branches, which shows that at the beginning of the birth of the Zodiac, rats were among them.
<h2 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > ground and animal habits</h2>
The origin of the ranking of the zodiac is varied, and the more famous ones are "folk tales", "five elements of yin and yang", "Buddhism", and "animal habits". Judging from the corresponding "son" of rats in the twelve branches of the earth, the "child time" in the twelve hours of the day refers to the eleventh to one o'clock in the morning, and this time is often the time when the rat is most active, so this time is also called "rat time".
Liaoning Provincial Museum Collection: Qingyu Zodiac (Qing)
Not only that, the activity time of other living animals in the zodiac is more or less related to their corresponding earth domination genus, according to this speculation, the correspondence between the zodiac and the ground branch may be related to the habits of the zodiac animals, then the rat ranks first.
<h2 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the ancients' multiple emotions about mice</h2>
In fact, the doubts about the ranking of rats are more from the modern people's view of rats, rats in ancient times are far from being "shouted and shouted to kill" as they are now, on the contrary, the ancients regarded white rats as auspicious omens, and the "Song Ben Fu Ruizhi" compiled by Shen Yue of the Liang Dynasty and the "Book of Southern Qi, Xiang Ruizhi" compiled by Xiao Zixian both recorded the capture of white rats.
In addition, because the reproductive ability of rats is strong, so in the folk is often used as a symbol of fertility worship, the late Qing Dynasty painter Ren Qian's "Zodiac Atlas" has a "sub-rat picture", painting five rats are grabbing the melon seeds in the can, and "seeds" and "seeds" are the same sound, expressing the meaning of multiple children, so in some places, rats and gourds, grapes, pomegranates and other seeded plants form auspicious patterns, reflecting people's desire to reproduce; and in the ancient period of lack of materials, rats also served as people's satiety, and even had medicinal value!
The Palace Museum's Collection: Mouse Pages in the Twelve Zodiac Atlas (Qing Ren Pre))
Of course, the ancients' feelings for mice were not single. In the Book of Poetry, Shuo Rat, Yun: "Shuo Rat Shuo Rat, no food for me." Three-year-old woman, Mo I am willing to take care of. The dead will go to the daughter, suitable for the paradise. The Promised Land, the Promised Land, I have it. "(Big rats, big rats, don't eat our grain, how many years to feed you, but I haven't seen you take care of us.) Leaving you, we will find our own promised land, which is where we will live), which actually reflects the rebellion of the ancestors to the worship of rats.
Graph source network
<h2 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > rat culture is behind these folklore</h2>
In China's traditional culture, there are many cultures and customs related to "rats". For example, rats steal grain, proving that "hamsters have surplus grain", indicating that the family is rich, and the rats in the family symbolize wealth; for example, Fang Ruiyi in the Qing Dynasty recorded a kind of "money rat" toy in eastern Guangdong in the "Dream Garden Cong", the sound seems to be counting money, so in the old days, Hubei and other places took the sound of rats as an auspicious omen, etc. Seeing these, everyone should understand why the ancients worshiped rats!
Based on the rat culture, later generations have derived many taboos and customs, such as coal miners in many places respect rats as "rat immortals", taboo catching rats, eating and feeding rats in the underground; and for example, in the ancient times in southern Zhejiang, the custom of "beating rat eyes" was popular, that is, during the Lantern Festival, people cooked black beans, and then sprinkled black beans indoors, and the bean sprinklers stood under the beam, threw black beans on the beam, and chanted in their mouths: "On the west beam, under the east beam, beat the rat Guangduoduo (the meaning of breaking the seed)." "It is believed that rat infestation can be removed; and the Maonan people in Guizhou take the first day of the first lunar month as the "rat sending day", etc., all of which reflect the influence of rats in people's lives.
<h2 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > look for "rat tracks" here in the New Year! </h2>
Such an influence also appears in the cultural relics that have been handed down to this day, and rat-related cultural relics are mostly famous for the loss from the Yuanmingyuan, and after several turns were collected in the National Museum of rat head bronze statues, in addition, common rat cultural relics in the form of stone carvings, rock carvings, ceramic sculpture figurines, stone carvings, etc., such as the Song Dynasty's plain fetal rat head pottery figurines, the Northern Song Dynasty Zodiac zodiac hand-held rat figurines, the Qing Dynasty's green jade rat carvings, golden rat carvings and Republic of China stone carvings "Mouse Marrying Female Figure" and so on.
Jiangxi Provincial Museum Collection: Primitive Fetal Mouse First Clay Figurine (Song)
Jiangxi Provincial Museum Collection : Zodiac Signs Holding Rat Figurines (Northern Song Dynasty)
The Palace Museum Collection: Qingyu Twelve Hourly Mouse (Qing)
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Brick carving, rat eating grapes (modern)
During the Spring Festival, the China Cultural Relics Newspaper and 30 cultural institutions jointly planned the "Rui Rat Tubao - 2020 Year of the Rat New Year Chinese Zodiac Cultural Relics Joint Exhibition", the Sichuan Museum is one of the sites, here, the China Cultural Relics Newspaper and more than 30 cultural institutions, selected hundreds of rat-themed cultural relics, artworks, specimens, etc., in the form of pictures, there are many cultural relics and knowledge about the "rat" and the zodiac!
The exhibition will be launched during the Spring Festival in 2020 (January 17 to February 28) at the same time as the display platform outside the window of the Red House of Peking University, the exhibition display screen of the Sichuan Museum, and the Zigong Salt Industry History Museum sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
Welcoming the New Year is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, and the rat is the first of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, and the Year of the Rat symbolizes the beginning of a new cycle in "1-12". On the occasion of retiring the old and welcoming the new, this group exhibition enhances the rich festive atmosphere of the festival, enriches the cultural activities of the public during the Spring Festival, and carries forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture. May this group of astute and intelligent "rats" bring the vitality, passion and good wishes of the New Year to the public.
The New Year's bell has been ringing, and Dajin has carefully collected and sorted out these rat-related blessings for everyone, so accept this blessing!
1. Every festive season, think of relatives, spend a good full moon to send family affection; the Year of the Rat wishes relatives and friends all the best, and shares a good mood every day.
2, good luck in the Year of the Rat Festival, Fulu birthday star into the door! Good luck and all the best!
3. The clock ringing at midnight in the Year of the Rat runs through the world, and the train in the Year of the Rat departs on time. It drove away an unforgettable year and ushered in another fiery red year. Happy Year of the Rat!
4, the end of the year, the blessings come from the east, and the good fortune reaches the heavens. When Noji Tai came, he reiterated kunpeng's ambition, spared no time and diligence, and showed unlimited style. Good luck in the Year of the Rat!
Finally, don't forget the most important sentence:
Wishing you prosperity, bring the red packet!
reference:
"Southern Cultural Relics", 1997.1 Mandarin Mouse Cultural Relics Wu Shichi, Huang Guirong
"History University Hall" 2017.05 How did the ranking of the zodiac come from Mo Yanshan
Wen 丨 Xixi
Editor 丨 Zhao Xia
Some of the data comes from the Sichuan Museum and the Cultural And Expo Circle