Zodiac chicken is one of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, ranked tenth. It corresponds to the "You" (酉) in the twelve terrestrial branches, so the "You hour"—from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.—is also called the "chicken hour."
The rooster's night watch and morning crowing were of great significance to ancient people. The timekeeping tools of ancient times were very simple, such as the clepsydra, and although it could measure time, it could not wake people up on time, without the later alarm clock. People in their dreams did not know what time it was. At this time, the rooster crows, telling people that it is about to be daylight, and they should get up and prepare for work. People often say, "Work when the sun rises and rest when it sets," but waking up cannot wait until the sun rises, and besides, the sun does not always come out, and on rainy days, there is no reference to determine the time by observing the sun. However, the rooster, regardless of hot or cold weather, or sunny or rainy, always keeps its promise to announce the dawn, never being lazy. It can be said that it is precisely because of the crowing at dawn that human life begins anew with the smoke and vitality of a new day.
In ancient times, when people heard the rooster crow, they knew it was morning and it was time to get up; while modern people use the sound of an alarm clock to wake themselves from sleep. Although alarm clocks are very punctual, they do not bring as much comfort as the rooster's crowing. The rooster is something we are certainly not unfamiliar with. It is one of the most beneficial animals among all poultry for humans.
Many animals, in people's eyes, are no longer just animals, but have been endowed with various rich and profound symbolic meanings. As an animal in the twelve zodiac signs, this is even more so. For example, the tiger symbolizes might and strength, the ox symbolizes diligence and patience, the monkey symbolizes intelligence and liveliness, and the dog symbolizes loyalty and bravery, and so on. Similarly, the chicken in the twelve zodiac signs also has its unique and profound symbolic meaning.
The most significant symbolic meaning of the chicken is trustworthiness and punctuality. A rooster's crowing means that the day is about to begin, and further extended, it symbolizes the liberation from darkness to light. For example, saying "the rooster has crowed, the day has dawned, and the liberation has come" is such a progressive symbolic meaning.
The second symbolic meaning of the chicken is ordinariness and fragility. In daily life, chickens are everywhere. They have strong reproductive capabilities and high survival rates, and they do not have special requirements for the environment, making them easy to raise anywhere. As the saying goes, rarity makes things valuable. Animals are the same. For example, the giant panda, because it is too rare, is very precious, and because it is only found in China, it is regarded as the national treasure. Other animals are not national treasures, but because they are too few and on the verge of extinction, they are strictly prohibited from being hunted and are protected as rare animals. Chickens cannot enjoy such treatment. They are too numerous, hence despised. Moreover, as a bird, the chicken's flying ability has greatly deteriorated. It cannot fly freely like other birds, and on the ground, it cannot run as fast or agilely as horses or dogs. Therefore, it has the symbolic meaning of ordinariness, massiveness, and fragility.
The chicken is very ordinary, constantly working hard, searching for food everywhere, pecking here and there, although it is diligent, it is not comfortable. This ordinary characteristic of the chicken is also used to metaphorically describe similar fates of people, known as the "chicken-pecking fate." It means that this person is busy and moving around, like a chicken pecking here and there, and in the end, can only manage to eat and live, without enjoying wealth and honor. There is a story that once a rich man asked someone to tell his fortune. The result showed that the rich man's fate was not good, just a "chicken-pecking fate." However, the fortune-teller said that the rich man's place was good, because he lived in Gucheng (Gucheng County in Hubei Province), where the chicken pecks in the grain city, naturally having enough food and clothing, so the rich man could enjoy wealth. The rich man said, if he didn't live in Gucheng, would he be poor? The fortune-teller said that was indeed the case. Unwilling to believe the fortune-teller's words, the rich man thought, would moving out of Gucheng make him poor? So he moved his whole family to another county, but within a few years, he gradually declined and finally lived a poor and destitute life. This is just a folk story, not necessarily true, but it embodies the symbolic meaning of the chicken's ordinariness.
Compared to its weakness and ordinariness, the chicken also has the symbolic meaning of bravery and combativeness. This meaning comes from cockfighting. Chickens like to fight, especially roosters, which is a common phenomenon in daily life. When two roosters meet, there is often a fight, and hens occasionally have fights as well.
To watch the exciting cockfights, people raised specialized fighting chickens. Normally ordinary and weak chickens, once they fight, create a tense atmosphere, showing courage and tenacity, with fierce battles. People also draw inspiration and encouragement from this, learning the bravery and combativeness of the roosters. An example from ancient Greece illustrates this. The Greeks had cockfighting competitions long ago. In a certain year before the Common Era, a Greek general led his army to the front line to fight against the Persian forces. On the way, he saw two roosters fighting, and his mind was stirred. He thought, if the soldiers' fighting spirit were as strong as these roosters, they would surely win the upcoming battle. So he ordered the troops to stop and let the soldiers watch the two roosters' brave fight. Indeed, the soldiers were inspired and fought bravely, defeating the Persians. To commemorate this glorious victory, the Greek king decided to hold an annual cockfighting festival in Athens. Cockfighting activities quickly spread throughout Greece and then to the Mediterranean countries, ancient Rome, and other nations. This victory of the Greek army proved that "when two armies meet, the brave will win," but the "bravery" originated from the inspiration of cockfighting. Thus, the chicken is not always weak.
The fourth symbolic meaning of the chicken is to ward off evil spirits, remove disasters, and represent divinity. Divination using chickens exists in many parts of the world, and the chicken coop has a divine meaning. Ancient people also used chickens to drive away evil spirits and perform sacrifices. Killing a chicken to drive away evil spirits is a form of witchcraft, which is a superstition. As early as the pre-Qin period, there were activities involving chickens and chicken blood to drive away evil spirits. The ancients believed that chickens and chicken blood had the power to drive away ghosts and eliminate misfortune. The ancients placed great importance on sacrifice. Among the sacrificial offerings, the chicken was one of them. Sacrificing chickens to ancestors is still practiced in some areas today. Divination using chickens is based on the belief that the chicken symbolizes divinity. Besides chicken divination, different regions and ethnic groups have other forms of egg divination. For example, in southern Yunnan, eggs are used to diagnose illness. When someone is sick, it is believed that a ghost has possessed the person. A single egg is rolled over the patient's body, believing that the ghost will attach itself to the egg. After boiling the egg, the shaman checks it to determine the fortune or misfortune.
Regarding the chicken's ability to ward off evil spirits and disasters, the sound of a rooster crowing can also scare away ghosts. In folk tales, ghosts fear the sound of a rooster crowing because they can only move at night, and the rooster's crowing indicates that the day is about to break, and once it is daylight, all ghosts will be powerless. This superstition dates back a long time. In the Jiangnan region, during the New Year, people "paste pictures of chickens on doors," hang ropes on them, and insert peach charms beside them, which terrify all ghosts. Posting a picture of a chicken on the door prevents all ghosts from coming near, purely symbolizing the fear of the sound of a rooster. This superstition continued until the early days of the liberation, when adults often told children that if they encountered a ghost at night, they could scare it away by imitating the sound of a rooster crowing.
In summary, the chicken also has its unique symbolic meaning. People derive and associate its symbolic meaning from the animal characteristics of the chicken. Like the symbolic meanings of other animals, it has both positive and negative aspects, depending on different contexts and situations.
