Chinanews client, Beijing, January 26th (Reporter Shangguanyun) The Lunar New Year is getting closer and closer to everyone. The upcoming Xinchou Year of the Lunar New Year bears people's good expectations.

  The origin of the so-called "Xin Chou Nian" is related to the ancient Chinese traditional method of chronology.

In addition, the ancients also designed the twelve zodiac signs to match the "twelve earthly branches".

Xin Chou is one of the main branches, and the zodiac corresponding to "Chou" is "Cow".

  This has also triggered a new wave of discussions: What is the chronology of officials and branches?

When should the "Zodiac sign" we often talk about begin?

What is the legend of the zodiac ox?

What is special about

  "

Xin Chou Nian"?

  A few days ago, the topic "There are only 354 days in the Xinchou Year of the Lunar New Year" appeared on hot searches. Many netizens expressed their curiosity about why the number of days has decreased?

Data map: New Year of the Ox dolls are popular.

Photo by Yang Bo

  Investigating the reason, some experts pointed out that the Chinese lunar calendar determines the date and month according to the cycle of the moon phase, and the length of the year according to the twenty-four solar terms.

  Since the number of days in 12 lunar months is not enough for the age of 24 solar terms, and 13 months have been exceeded, the method of increasing leap months is adopted to adjust.

The upcoming Xin Chou year of the lunar calendar has no leap months, it is a normal year with a total of 354 days.

  As for the name "Xin Chou Nian", it has something to do with the Ganzhi chronology used in ancient times.

The so-called "ganzhi" is the general term for the heavenly stems and the earthly branches. The sequence of the stems and branches is matched to indicate the serial number of the year, month, and day. The 60-year cycle repeats itself again and again.

  For example, there are ten heavenly stems, namely A, B, C, D, E, Ji, G, Xin, Ren, and Kui; the earthly branches have twelve, in order of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai.

  The ancients combined them in the order of Jiazi, Yichou, Bingyin, etc., and would not repeat them. Xin Chounian was one of the first Jiazi in the lunar calendar.

When does the zodiac sign start?

  What's interesting is that, in order to facilitate memory, the ancients also specially designed 12 kinds of animals, namely the Chinese zodiac, to match the "twelve earthly branches".

Xin Chou is one of the main branches, and the zodiac corresponding to "Chou" is "Cow".

Data map: The staff displayed special stamps of "Xin Chou Year".

Photo by Xu Shanshan

  It has been passed down to this day that the zodiac signs have rich cultural connotations. As early as the pre-Qin period, relevant records appeared in ancient books.

  For example, in the bamboo slips of the Qin Dynasty unearthed in Yunmeng Suihudi, Hubei, the content of "Pirates" in the "Book of the Day" is relatively close to that of the Chinese zodiac, such as "Zi, Rats, Pirates with sharp mouth and thin beard; Ugly, bully, the robber has a big nose and a long neck..."

  The Eastern Han Dynasty Wang Chong’s "Lun Heng" has the following record: "Yin Mu Ye, its birds and tigers; Xu Tu Ye, its poultry dogs; Ugly Wei Yi soil, ugly poultry cattle, and Wei poultry sheep." The zodiac signs and the corresponding twelve earthly branch attributes.

  Therefore, born in the year of Gengzi, the zodiac is "rat", born in the year of Xin Chou, the zodiac is "ox", and so on.

However, netizens seem to have different opinions on when the zodiac signs start.

  Some people believe that the zodiac signs are calculated on the day of the beginning of spring. However, some people argue that the zodiac signs are calculated according to the lunar calendar, from the first day of the first month to the end of New Year's Eve.

Moreover, the zodiac appears earlier than the twenty-four solar terms.

  In an interview with reporters, folklore expert Wang Juan believed that the genus should be calculated from the first day of the first month.

The beginning of spring is the solar term, which is calculated according to the law of the sun, and is related to the ancient solar calendar; the zodiac signs follow the lunar calendar and are related to the rules of the moon. Therefore, at the midnight of the New Year's Eve, the zodiac is handed over.

The story and legend of the zodiac ox

  Regardless of when the zodiac signs are counted, one thing to note is that the Chinese do have a soft spot for the zodiac signs.

There are also many interesting stories about the zodiac ox.

Data map: Funing, Jiangsu reproduces the folk custom of "playing the spring cow".

Photo by Gu Hua

  In a story circulated on the Internet, the ox is a servant in front of the Jade Emperor Palace, and he often travels between the Heavenly Palace and the human world.

Once, the Jade Emperor sent it to the world to sow grass seeds to prevent the ground from growing.

  As a result, it inadvertently remembered the Jade Emperor's instructions incorrectly, and after reaching the world, he took a step and sowed three grass seeds.

As a result, in the second year, weeds were overgrown, and farmers could not grow crops.

  The Jade Emperor was very angry, so he punished it to go to the earth to help farmers work in the land.

Lao Niu knew that he could change, he helped people do a lot of work, was hardworking and practical, so when he arranged the zodiac, it was also included.

  In the Chinese zodiac, the cow has always been regarded as a representative of hard work and no resentment, and has been endowed with rich cultural connotations.

For example, in ancient times, there was the custom of "whipping the spring cow", which had implied meanings such as promoting spring plowing and praying for good harvest, and later became an important content of folk culture.

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