What are the four elephants?

In traditional Chinese culture, the Four Elephants refer to the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Xuanwu, which represent the four directions of east, west, south, and north, respectively.

In the twenty-eight constellations, the "four elephants" are used to classify the stars in the sky, and are also called the four gods and four spirits. In the astronomical yin and yang doctrine of the Spring and Autumn Period, it refers to the natural gas symbols of the four seasons, which are known as the Shaoyang, the Sun, the Shaoyin, and the Taiyin, respectively.

Traditional Chinese orientation is to the south at the top, and modern to the north at the top of the different, so the description of the four elephants orientation, and will say that the left blue dragon (east), right white tiger (west) before the Zhu Bird (south) after the Xuanwu (north) to indicate, and the five elements in the direction of the science (east wood, west gold, north, water, south, and fire) to echo. The concept of the "Four Elements" was highly valued in ancient Japan and Korea, where it was often referred to as the Four Sages and Four Sacred Beasts.

It is worth noting that, although recently influenced by Japanese popular culture, and began to get used to this expression, but in fact the Chinese tradition of the "four elephants" and not the four saints, generally referred to the four saints are Fu Xi, King Wen, Zhou Gong and Confucius and other four saints. The "four elephants" also refers to the wind, rain, thunder, electricity, four natural weather weather.

Folk activities

1, the temple fair

Chaosu Qinglong Temple Fair is the fourth batch of intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province, has held twenty-eight Teochew Intangible Cultural Heritage projects focused on display, Chinese Chaozhou embroidery exhibition, Chaozhou Opera and Chaozhou opera show, the big painting of the Chaozhou, photography competitions, the Chao learning salon and other activities. Salon and other activities. The activities attracted more than 3 million people in China to watch or participate in the activities, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao and other Teochew associations organized groups to participate.

2. Sacrifice

The five-dragon god sacrifice in Xingqing Palace, which emerged in the Tang Dynasty, is one of the links in the development of five-dragon beliefs, and in modern times the sacrifice of the five-dragon god has been incorporated into the state's official sacrifices, and the sacrificial rituals for the five-dragon god are mainly based on the standards of the small sacrifices of the group of sacrifices in the "Rites of the Zhou," whose rituals and the contents of the blessings reflect the five-dragon beliefs that are mainly based on the Qinglong god and supplemented by the other four gods. The rituals and benedictions reflect the belief in the five dragons with the Qinglong deity as the main deity and the other four dragons as supplements.

The above is for reference only.