Chinese Astrology
The Chinese Astrologie (zhanxingshu 占 星 術, xingxue 星 學, qizhengsiyu 七 政 四 餘, guolaoxingzong 果 老 星 宗) is based on the concepts astronomical, religious and calenderic traditional. During the 20th century, its 12 animals - signs (生肖 shengxiao) were adopted in the popular culture of many countries. It is, in the order: Mouse or Rat - Buffalo or Ox - Tiger - Hare or Cat or Rabbit - Dragon or Lizard - Snake - Horse - Goat or Goat or Sheep - Monkey - Cock or Phoenix - Dog - Pig or Wild boar or Pig or Bear.
Astrology
According to the tradition, practically right from the start of the astrology of the 111 stars codified by the Emperor Huang Di into 2637 before our era, the Chinese emperors prohibited the practice with very other of it that the astrologers of their court, for fear adversaries do not use it to determine their periods of weakness and to try to reverse them. Careful and pragmatic, the Chinese, especially people of farmers, thus invented tens of systems astrological approaching much the numerology and which enabled them to know at which time to plant or achieve the important acts of the life. It would be because of this obligation not to look at the sky more that in some of these systems it is not taken almost any more account of planets, and that the year begins the 4 (or 5) February and not at the first day of the new moon of spring as it is the case for the astrology of the 111 stars . Some examples:
The system of the 28 lunar residences takes account only of the Moon.
The astrology of the 9 stars , as for it, is used in Feng Shui and is based on the magic square in a 9 years cycle taking account of the directions of stars of Large Ourse made up of pole star and 8 other stars.
In the astrology of the 4 pillars of the destiny , the astrologers combine the astral data of the birth like its hour and its date with the five elements, according to a complex system of binomials (annual, monthly, daily and schedule which form with them 4 a card of identity) developped at the point, according to the tradition, between the end of the Tang and the beginning of the Song by Chen Xiyi (陳希夷), known under the name of ziweidoushu “given astral houses Ziwei and Dou”, most influential.
Principal stars
The former Chinese astronomers associated the five Planet S principal with the five elements, from where they draw their current name: Jupiter is Wood, Mars is Fire, Saturn is the Earth, Venus is Metal, Mercure is Water.Their positions in the sky, like that of the Sun and the the Moon, called supreme Yang and Yin, and the possible passage of Comet S at the time of the birth influence the destiny.
Jupiter is particularly important because its revolution, and not that of the Sun, was used until the medium of the Dynastie Han to count the years. According to the traditional religion, the Chinese year which starts belongs to the god of this planet, Taisui. All those which are sign of the year must make him an offering with the temple to attract its good graces.
Astral houses
The zone around the ecliptic and of the celestial equator is divided into 28 lunar houses xiù , corresponding to the 28 sectors crossed in turn by the Moon during the lunar month. The whole of this “Chinese zodiac” is divided into 4 districts xiàng , represented each one by an animal totem. Their position given with fell the night the evening of the vernal equinox. The names of the lunar houses, not easily explainable, are very old: they were found on funerary objects dating from the Royaumes combatants, and could go back to the Zhou. It is thus difficult to know their original significance, because the character which indicates them could change direction. Nevertheless some seem to indicate part of the animal totem, like jiǎo (horn).In a general way, the names of the Chinese asterisms are rather different from those of the 88 Constellation S Western. For example, the carriage of Ursa major is called “the ladle”. The belt of Orion is known under the name of shēn whose direction is “three”; Orion thus accounts for the three gods of Fortune, Happiness and Longevity.
The district more in the north, whose animal totem, a fantastic tortoise whose carapace evokes an armor, is called Xuanwu, “warlike black”, is particularly important. It contains in the house dǒu the carriage of Large Ourse ( dǒu of north) and the asterism nándǒu ( dǒu of the south) in the Sagittarius which control the births and deaths. Under the name of Zhenwudadi, Xuanwu is also a god, spirit of the sky of North and Water in the belief taoist.
Enclosures
Around the celestial north pole, the Chinese distinguished three spangled zones which seemed each one encircled by an enclosure, from where them name from the “three enclosures”.The “imperial enclosure” or “higher enclosure” is located around α Ursae Minoris, formerly regarded as fixed, axis of the sky. It was believed that the stellar stars and gods that it sheltered controlled the destinies of the emperor and his family. The “enclosure of the palate of in top”, or “pregnant average” around the Lion, of the Virgin and Cassiopée, controlled the Ministers and civils servant of the palate. The “enclosure of the celestial” or “pregnant market lower” around Ophiuchus, of the eagle and Hercules represented the local government. The stars and Astérisme S of these enclosures carried names in connection with their symbolism, titles official or peerage-books for example.
Caption of Altaïr and Véga
The stars in the sky do not constitute only the base of the astrological readings, but also the matter of many fairy tales. For example, the Triangle of summer is a trio made up of the herdsman , a young peasant (Alpha Aquilae /Altair), tisserande , a fairy (Alpha Lyrae /Vega) and the fairy Taibai (Alpha Cygni /Deneb). The herdsman and the tisserande, husbands separated by celestial decree, are held each one on a side of the silver plated river (the Milky Way). Each year, the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese calendar, feastday of Qiqiao, the birds form a bridge through the Milky Way. The herdsman crosses it with their two sons (two stars on each side of Altaïr) for an annual meeting with their mother fairy. The fairy Taibai chaperonne two lovers.
Four celestial guards
The 28 lunar houses are classified in four districts containing seven constellations each one. They are identified with four fantastic creatures, celestial guards. The Constellation S or notable star S to which they are attached are indicated to their continuation:The shape of the animal-guards as well as the distribution of the colors were fixed under the Han under the influence of the theory of the five elements.
The yellow unicorn (Ki-rin) is associated with the 5th element: Earth.
Chinese signs
They constitute a whole of twelve animals which one thinks inspired originally by the twelve signs of astrology Persian, transmitted via the India or the Tibet. It is, in the order: Mouse or Rat - Buffalo or Ox - Tiger - Hare or Rabbit - Dragon or Lizard - Snake - Horse - Goat, Goat or Sheep - Monkey - Cock or Phoenix - Dog - Pig, Wild boar or Pig. In certain countries having adopted them, the cat replaces rabbit and the bear replaces the pig. These signs are associated with the twelve terrestrial branches, which in combination with the ten celestial stems constitutes the Chinese system of calculation of time in the past attested.
Legends
Legends report how the animals were selected and how their order was given. Generally, the selection is done by the means of a race under the aegis of the Empereur of jade, chief of the gods, or the Bouddha. Sometimes it is the pig which referee, and the incidents multiply because of its incompetence.- the two most known anecdotes:
- the race being completed by the crossing of a river, the ox, good prince, would have agreed to transport the rat between its horns. But at the time to touch bank, this one jumped to ground, preceding ox; thus it became the first sign.
- the absence of the cat would be due to the mischievousness of his/her friend the rat, that the Jade Emperor had charged with convening the animals for the selection of the signs of the zodiac. Misled by the rat, the cat was annoyed, and it is since they are enemy natural. It nevertheless was retained in the version Vietnamese where it replaces rabbit.
- Arbitrage of the pig
Table of the signs
The sexagesimal cycle
One can combine the cycle of the animals with the binary cycle Yin-Yang, each animal being always associated with one year in the same way standard; the Dragon, for example, is always yang, and the Goat always yin. In the Gregorian calendar, the even years are yang and the odd years are yin (in any rigor the change yin-yang is made at the time of the Chinese New year).Combined with the cycle of the five elements, But (金 jin), Water (水 shui), Wood (木 driven), Fire (火 huo), and Ground (土 you), the unit gives a sixty years cycle different. There will be thus the year of the " Rat Doré" , that of the " Ox of Eau" or that of the " Tiger of Bois". In Japan, the sixty years birthday is celebrated by a ceremony called kanreki (completion of the calendar).
The tradition associates with each element a color: Wood is green, Red light, the yellow or ocher Earth, the White gold and the Water of black or blue color. These colors appear sometimes in the place of the elements on the Chinese calendars abroad: year of the " cock vert" , of the " tiger rouge" for example.
In old matrimonial arrangements, the couples were matched according to the compatibility of their signs. For example, it was allowed that two " chiens" did not go together, but that a " chien" and a " porc" was a good union; a " dog-eau" will be dominated by a " pig-bois" but a " will dominate; pig-feu" because Water is beneficial with Wood, but control Fire, according to the principles of their interaction according to the theory of the five elements.
Contrary to the Chinese signs, each element occupies in its turn two consecutive years in a cycle which lasts ten years. The first year the element is Yang, the following year the same element is Yin.
It is thus enough to consult the last figure of its year of birth (To take the date of the previous year if one were born before the Chinese new year!) to know its element:
- the years whose figure of the units is 0 or 1 have as an element Gold.
- the years whose figure of the units is 2 or 3 have as an element Water.
- the years whose figure of the units is 4 or 5 have as an element Wood.
- the years whose figure of the units is 6 or 7 have as an element Fire.
- the years whose figure of the units is 8 or 9 have as an element the Earth.
The Chinese New year
As the Chinese Calendrier is soli-lunar, the date of change of sign is that of the Chinese New year which is located the day of the new moon (at the date of Beijing) ranging between on January 21st and on February 20th.Nevertheless, in the system of calculation of the years by combination of the celestial stems and the terrestrial branches with which the animals are associated, the change is carried out at the beginning of spring, at the day called lichun (立春), which is located the 4 or on February 5th, when the sun arrives at 315 degrees of longitude. Some recent Chinese almanacs take again this tradition and make change the signs the day of lichun .
The Chinese signs are also used by other Asian cultures, Vietnamese and Japanese woman, for example. The postal services of several other countries emit sometimes a stamp of the Year of…”, but the not very familiar countries with the use of the Chinese lunar calendar suppose that the signs change on January 1st of each year.
Those which take the Chinese signs with serious can consult the table below, particularly useful for the people born in January or in February, period of change of year according to the lunisolar calendar.
Small easy way to calculate the Chinese New Year's Day easily: the cycle starts again approximately every 95 years, thus in 1900 the year began on January 31st, it began on January 31st also in 1995 (attention that can vary from 1 to 2 days).
Chinese zodiac of 1900 to 2020
Time signs
Twelve " branches terrestres" were used formerly to mark the periods of the day, each sign corresponding to a two hour old section is called shichen (時辰). This time division is taken into account by astrology and it is thus possible to associate an animal sign with each time slot.-
23:00 - 01:00: Rat (Mouse)
- 01:00 - 03:00: Ox (Buffalo)
- 03:00 - 05:00: Tiger
- 05:00 - 07:00: Rabbit (Hare-Cat)
- 07:00 - 09:00: Dragon (Lizard)
- 09:00 - 11:00: Snake
- 11:00 - 13:00: Horse
- 13:00 - 15:00: Goat (Sheep-Goat)
- 15:00 - 17:00: Monkey
- 17:00 - 19:00: Cock (Phoenix)
- 19:00 - 21:00: Dog
- 21:00 - 23:00: Pig (Pig-Bear-Wild boar)
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