The origin of the pig and the legend of the pig zodiac

Pigs are omnivorous mammals with an average lifespan of 20 years. It is one of the five livestock species (cows, dogs, sheep, pigs, and chickens). In the Chinese zodiac, it is called Hai. There are many allusions and customs about pigs in history. Humans have a long history of raising domestic pigs, but it was not widely known to the world until the 16th century. The pigs raised in China are the direct descendants of the earliest domesticated pigs.

Pigs are also the most utilized animals by humans. Domestic pigs are divided into three categories: large-frame fat type, bacon type and fresh meat type. Domestic pigs are derived from wild boars. Wild boars have been on the earth for 36 million years. Since the beginning of humans, it has been the main prey. With the development of productivity, people had surplus prey, so they fostered the captured wild boars. Humans choose wild boars as breeding subjects mainly because they are easy to raise and breed. There is no big difference between wild boars and domestic pigs, except that the tusks of domestic pigs are not as developed as those of wild boars.

Overview of the Pig Zodiac Sign

Pigs are at 9-11 pm (i.e. "Hai hour"). At this time, pigs sleep the most deeply, snore the loudest, the muscles of the whole body shake the most, and grow meat the fastest, so the year of Hai is Pig.

Advantages of the Pig Zodiac

1. Be sincere and upright, practice everything seriously, and have excellent popularity.

2. Straightforward temperament, kind-hearted, individualistic first, resolute and generous, direct, strong sense of justice, aboveboard, informal, naive and romantic.

3. People born in the Year of the Pig with type O are simple and naive in their thinking and will not care about others. People born in the Year of the Pig will never buy their friends, and they are very tolerant of being honest and sincere.

4. There is not much competition with others, and he will not lie unless he has to, and he behaves appropriately and has a kind attitude.

5. Pig people are intellectually rich, curious, generous, and straightforward.

6. Friendship lasts a long time. Once you become a friend, you will take good care of your friend.

7. Pig people are optimistic and can make a living without overwork.

8. Women attach great importance to family and arrange housework in a planned way.

9. The most tolerant of others’ ridicule and resignation.

There is a folk legend about the pig being the zodiac sign.

In ancient times, there was a member of the Communist Party of China who was wealthy. There are thousands of hectares of fertile land, but no children. Unexpectedly, when he was nearly sixty years old, he got a son. The whole family rejoices, relatives and friends congratulate each other. There was even a grand banquet outside the members to celebrate the successor.

During the banquet, a minister came to the child and saw that the child had a broad forehead, a big face, wide ears, a plump sky, and was white and fat. He concluded that the child must be a very lucky and noble person.

This fat man was born and raised in happiness. Since he was a child, he only had clothes to stretch his hands and food to open his mouth. He did not practice civility or martial arts or farm work. He just spent his days and nights idle, thinking that his destiny was already determined and that he would be blessed and prosperous, so there was no need to work hard. Unexpectedly, when the child grew up, his parents died, the family declined, the land was sold off, and the servants were scattered. The fat boy still lived a life of spending money like water, until he finally starved to death in his room.

The fat boy's ghost lingered after his death, and he went to the underworld to complain to the King of Hell, saying that he was born with good fortune and could not die in such a miserable state. The king of hell brought this ghost to the Jade Emperor in the sky and asked the Jade Emperor to judge it arbitrarily. The Jade Emperor summoned the earthly kitchen god and asked how this rich-looking man could starve to death in the room. The Kitchen God then reported the fat boy's behavior of not thinking about studies, not doing farming, sitting on nothing, spending money and being licentious. When the Jade Emperor heard this, he was very angry and ordered the officials to obey the order and asked the fat boy to obey him.

The Jade Emperor said: "Although you have a good fortune, you are lazy by nature. Now you are punished as a pig and eat chaff." This period happened to be when the Heavenly Palace was selecting zodiac animals, and the official of the Heavenly Palace thought "eating chaff" meant "Be the zodiac sign". Take this fat boy down to earth immediately. From then on, the fat boy became a pig, eating chaff and becoming a zodiac animal.

Another legend is that the pig became the zodiac sign through its own efforts. On the day when the zodiac animals were arranged in the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor stipulated that they must arrive at the Heavenly Palace at a certain time, and the twelve animals that arrived first would be chosen as the zodiac animals. The pig knew that his body was slow and he walked slowly, so he got up in the middle of the night and rushed to line up to be the zodiac sign. Due to the long distance and many obstacles, the pig worked hard to climb to the Nantianmen, but the time to arrange the zodiac animals had passed. But the pig begged hard, and the other six animals also interceded for it. Finally, the gods were moved and the pig was put into the Nantian Gate and became the last zodiac animal. In this way, the "six animals" of horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, and pigs have become the human zodiac animals.

The meaning of the zodiac pig

In people's minds, pigs are probably the most honest domestic animals. They are not as spirited as dogs. They understand their master's thoughts, follow them forward and backward, and try their best to please them. Pigs, on the other hand, have a round, plump and honest appearance. They sleep after eating and eat when they are hungry, which makes them appear honest and responsible. Pigs are notoriously lazy among animals. The important reason why pigs grow the fastest among all domestic animals is that they have little activity. Apart from moving around while eating, pigs seldom do any heavy exercise, let alone worry about being tired. Everyone knows that pigs are dirty. Although there are objective reasons for their lack of hygiene, they eat, live, poop, and pee in the same pen almost all their lives. They are covered in feces and feces, which makes people feel disgusting. Due to the above-mentioned characteristics of pigs, they often become synonymous with stupidity, laziness, greed, and ugliness. When used in human cultural life, it has a deeply derogatory connotation.

In ancient times, the cultural significance of pigs did not contain any derogatory connotations. On the contrary, pigs were a measure of bravery. Not only does "home" mean raising pigs in a house, but also the social activities at that time were centered on pig-related things. For example, the oracle bone inscription "Shi" looks like holding a long-handled net with both hands to catch pigs or wild boars. The quality of a person is also measured based on pig events. For example, the word "dare" means catching pigs with bare hands to show bravery, so not being able to catch pigs is considered cowardice. . Domestic pigs seem so docile and honest because they have been domesticated by humans for a long time and have lost their nature due to isolation from nature. Wild boars are ferocious and good at fighting. Therefore, based on this characteristic, pigs have the meaning of "going forward bravely".

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