中國傳統文化 第3期:十二生肖
The Twelve Animal Signs
十二生肖
In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical means something that is repeated time after time according to a pattern.
據中國傳統文化,日期是循環的,也就是説,日期的循環是周而復始的。
A popular folk method which reflected this cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs.
記錄這周而復始日期的最流行的民間方法就是十二生肖。
Every year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake,Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar.
Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.
即:每一年由一個動物代表,每隔十二年進行一個循環。這十二個動物分別是:鼠、牛、虎、兔、 龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗、豬。
A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs.
十二生肖在中國民間傳説中有其文化內涵,占星術就是由其發展而來的。
For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Horse would be, “cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others”.
例如,中國的屬相認為馬年出生的人“快樂、受歡迎、愛恭維他人”。
The animal signs also serve a useful social function for finding out people’s ages.
屬相還有助於在社交活動中獲悉別人的年齡。
Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what is his or her animal sign.
為了避免直接問及一個人的年齡,人們通常問他的屬相。
This would place that person’s age within a cycle of 12 years,and with a bit of common sense, we can deduce the exact age.
這就可以確定他在十二生肖的排位,從而通過常識,計算出他的確切年齡。
More often, people ask for animal signs not to compute a person's exact numerical age, but to simply know who is older among friends and acquaintances.
然而,人們通常問屬相併不是要計算一個人的年齡,更多的是在朋友和熟人之間弄明白誰的年齡更大一些。