One rat and two oxes, three tigers and four rabbits, five dragons and six snakes, seven horses and eight sheep, nine monkeys and ten chickens, eleven dogs and twelve pigs. "Why do you choose these animals for the twelve zodiac signs? Why should you arrange them in this order?
There are many folk sayings:
First: It is said that the twelve zodiac signs were originally introduced to time, and their arrangement order was arranged according to the living habits and activity characteristics of the twelve animals. During the farming period, farmers were able to work better in the ground in order to make the ox stronger and stronger, so they often added meals and fed grass to the ox from one o'clock to three in the morning. Therefore, this time period is also called ugly time, and the ox was also called ugly cow, and the ox naturally became the second in the ranking of the twelve zodiac signs."
Second: It is a race story that is widely circulated among the people. The cow should have been the first place, but it was snatched away by the opportunistic mouse.
Third: The ancients used the cow as the zodiac sign from 1:00 to 3:00 am because after the cow had eaten grass at night, they had to "chew" in the second half of the night, also called "rumination", which means to return the fodder that was eaten roughly during the day from the stomach and chew it carefully for digestion. This is a unique physiological function of cows. It is a physical preparation for cattle to absorb nutrients, store energy, and work the next day. Chou, in the twelve earthly branches, the original meaning is that all things sprout in the twelve months, that is, the moment before accumulating strength to prepare to drill out of the ground. At this time, the important human assistant cattle were raising their energy in the second half of the night, preparing for heavy farming after dawn, which was the same as the stage of sprouting everything before drilling out of the ground. Therefore, the ox was chosen by the ancients as the zodiac sign of the ugly one.
Fourth: From 1:00 to 3:00 am is the hour of Chou, and the 12th month of the lunar calendar is the month of Chou. The ox can rank second among the zodiac signs, which is also related to the beginning of the world, the earth is open and Chou, and the ox is the thing that opens the earth, so Chou is the ox. It means that after the chaos first opens, the clear air rises into the sky, and the turbid air becomes the earth. After the sky is discharged, the earth needs to cultivate the land, and the cattle are good at plowing the fields. It is the first choice for the land of the land, so Chou is the cow.
Generally, people born in the Year of the Ox are gentle, hard-working, and dedicated, and are worthy of making friends.
