What did the ancients mean by twenty-eight nights?

What did the ancients mean by twenty-eight nights? Where is cabin 28?

28 sectors. Twenty-eight nights is the general name of 28 groups of astrology near the ecliptic. Twenty-eight lodgings are divided into seven lodgings in the southeast and northwest, which are "four elephants": black dragon in the east, suzaku in the south, white tiger in the west and Xuanwu in the north. Twenty-eight Nights is an important creation of ancient astronomers in China.

Twenty-eight lodging houses are also called twenty-eight stars or twenty-eight houses. At first, the ancients chose 28 stars to compare the movements of the sun, the moon, gold, wood, water, fire and the earth as signs of observation. The meaning of "lodge" is similar to that of the zodiac, indicating the positions of the sun, the moon and the five stars. In the Tang Dynasty, Twenty-eight Hostels became the main body of twenty-eight celestial domains, and these celestial domains were still named after Twenty-eight Hostels. Unlike Sanyuan, as a celestial region, 28 hotels are mainly used to divide the ownership of star officials. The 28 huts start from Cacuk and are arranged from west to east, in the same direction as the sun and the moon.

Seven nights in the east: horns and wooden dumplings; Kang and Jinlong; Hey, hey; Room, day rabbit; Heart, moon fox; Tail, fire tiger; Water leopard basket

Seven nights in the north: fighting, wood; Cattle, Taurus; Female, earth bat; Deficiency, sun mouse; Danger, moon swallowing; House, fire pig; Wall, water.

Seven nights in the west: osmium, wooden wolf; Lu, golden dog; Stomach, soil pheasant; Chang, Japanese chicken; Bi,; Jackal, fire monkey; Ginseng, water ape.

Seven nights in the south: wells and rafts; Ghost, golden sheep; Willow and Swertia japonica; Star, sun horse; Zhang, moon deer; Wings, salamanders; Lumbricus, earthworms.

In addition, there are some star officials who are closely related to these stars, such as graves, detached palaces, ears, beheadings, graupel, corpse accumulation, right jurisdiction, left jurisdiction, Changsha, shrine and so on. Respectively attached to the house, the dangerous house, the wall, the ginseng, the well, the ghost and the tail are called auxiliary officials or auxiliary seats.

About the four elephants:

As early as ancient times, the ancients had realized that the positions of the stars were constant, and they could be used as signs to explain the moving positions of the sun, the moon and the five stars. The ancients in China looked up at the sky near the intersection of the ecliptic, divided the starry sky near the ecliptic into several areas, called Twenty-eight Hostels, and connected them with the four elephants according to their directions and seasons. The four images refer to the four star regions in the southeast and northwest of the sky. In the early culture of China, the four images refer to Lao Yang, Shaoyin, Shaoyang and Laoyin in Yi Zhuan, and also refer to the natural weather in the four seasons. After Qin and Han Dynasties, they gradually referred to Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu, which originated from the ancient belief in stars and represented the stars in the East, West, South and North respectively. They are also called four gods, four spirits and four sages.

The four images of Yi Chuan and the four images of the stars are integrated with each other. Blue Dragon indicates that the yang is insufficient in spring, White Tiger indicates that the yin is insufficient in autumn, Xuanwu Laoyin indicates that the yang is insufficient in winter, and Suzaku Lao Yang indicates that the yang is insufficient in summer. This "four elephants" is the image of four animals imagined by the ancients by connecting seven nights in each direction. Zhang Heng described it in Lingxian: "The black dragon curled up on the left, the white tiger pounced on the right, the suzaku pounced on the front, and the turtle circle was behind."

Twenty-eight huts are divided into four groups according to the northeast and southwest directions, and each group has seven huts, which are respectively equipped with four colors and four animal images, and are called four elephants or four places. The corresponding relationship is as follows: Oriental black dragon, cyan; Xuanwu in the north, black; White tiger in the west, white; Southern Suzaku, red.

The meaning of the four images:

Qinglong, the patron saint of the East in Taoism

Qinglong is a star name, which originated from the worship of stars in ancient times. Among the twenty-eight lodging houses, seven lodging houses in the East (horn, sound, mutual, room, heart, tail and dustpan) are the general names. They are shaped like dragons, also known as black dragons, and their color is blue, indicating the East. They were originally the gods of the East in ancient mythology. Since the pre-Qin period, they have been beasts representing Taihao and the Seven Nights in the East. When the Five Elements Theory began to rise in Han Dynasty, their symbolic meanings were added to A, B and Chun.

White Tiger

White tiger is also the god of war and war. White tiger has many magical powers, such as avoiding evil, avoiding disaster, praying for prosperity and punishing evil, promoting kindness, getting rich and getting married. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also changed from the stars. Of the 28 stars, 7 are in the west: Kui, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Gou and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the west, its whiteness is due to the west, and it belongs to gold in the five elements, and its color is white. So it is called white tiger not because it is white, but because it comes from five elements.

rosefinch

Suzaku was originally the southern god in ancient mythology, one of the four images in traditional culture, and one of the so-called "four spirits" in Sanfu Huang Tu.

Suzaku can also be called a phoenix or a mysterious bird. Suzaku is one of the four spirits. Like the other three, it comes from the stars. The stars are the general names of seven small houses in the south: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and bird. Think of it as Suzaku. Scarlet, like fire, the south belongs to fire, hence the name Phoenix. It also has the characteristics of attaching importance to fire. It is also called the Fire Phoenix, just like the immortal birds in the west.

turtle

Xuanwu is a spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. Xuanwu originally meant Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Wu means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described the tortoise divination: the tortoise's back is black, and the tortoise divination is to invite the tortoise to ask questions in the underworld, first bring back the answers and show them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise. Since then, the meaning of Xuanming has been expanding. Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including turtles), so Xuan Ming became a water god; The tortoise lives long, and Xuan Ming has become a symbol of immortality; It turned out that the underworld was in the north, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty was' the divination must go north', so Xuan Ming became the northern god again.

Xuanwu, like the other three spirits, is also changed from 28 stars in the world: fighting, cows, women, emptiness, danger, rooms and walls. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu. Xuanwu is a turtle. "Book of Rites. "Quli Shang" says:' OK, there are Zhu birds in front, then there is Xuanwu ...'' Xuanwu' is a tortoise and snake. Supplementary Notes on Hong Xingzu's Songs of the South. Travel far:' Xuanwu is called tortoise and snake. It is located in the north and is called Xuan. With scales, it is called martial arts. Xuanwu' is a combination of snakes, turtles and snakes.

Xuanwu was originally the god of the north in ancient mythology. Since the pre-Qin period, it has been a god beast representing Zhuan Xu and the seven nights in the north. By the time the Five Elements Theory began to rise in Han Dynasty, its symbolic significance had surpassed that in winter.