What did the ancients mean by twenty-eight nights?

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

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 hotels 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 earth as observation marks. The meaning of "lodge" is similar to the "palace" of the zodiac, indicating the position of the sun, moon and five stars. In the Tang Dynasty, Twenty-eight Hostels became the main body of the twenty-eight celestial bodies, and these celestial bodies were still named after Twenty-eight Hostels. Different from Sanyuan, as a celestial body, Twenty-eight Hostels are mainly used to divide the ownership of star officials. The 28 huts start from Kakuk 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; Basket, water leopard

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

Seven nights in the west: osmium, wooden wolf; Building, golden dog; Stomach, chicken; Often, Japanese chickens; 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 star officials, such as tomb, detached palace, ear, chop, graupel, corpse accumulation, right jurisdiction, left jurisdiction, Changsha, shrine and so on. , respectively, attached to the room, dangerous room, Bi, ginseng, well, ghost, tail, known as auxiliary officials or auxiliary seats.

About the four elephants:

As early as ancient times, the ancients had realized that the position of the stars was constant, and the stars could be used as signs to explain the position 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, and called it Twenty-eight Hostels, and connected these Twenty-eight Hostels with the four elephants according to their directions and seasons. The four elephants refer to the four star regions in the southeast, northwest and southeast 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 four seasons. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, it 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 saints.

The four images of Yi Chuan and the four images of the stars are integrated with each other. Qinglong means lack of yang in spring, Baihu means lack of yin in autumn, Xuanwu Old Yin means winter, and Suzaku Lao Yang means summer. This "four elephants" is the image of four animals imagined by the ancients by connecting seven nights in each direction. Zhang Heng has a description in Lingxian County: "The black dragon is curled up on the left, the white tiger is fiercer than the right, the rosefinch is fluttering in front, and the turtle is circling 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, Dongqi lodging house (horn, sound, mutual, room, heart, tail and dustpan) is the general name. They are like a dragon, also called black dragon. Their color is blue, which means the East. They were originally the gods of the East in ancient mythology. Since the pre-Qin era, they have been the beasts representing Tai Hao and the Seven Hostels in the East. By the rise of the Five Elements Theory 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 disasters, praying and punishing evil, promoting good, making a fortune and getting married. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also changed from the stars. Among these 28 stars, there are 7 in the west: osmium, building, stomach, ang, bi, Gou and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the west, and its whiteness is due to the west. The five elements belong to gold and the 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" of Sanfu Huang Tu.

Suzaku can also be said to be a phoenix or a mysterious bird. Suzaku is one of the four spirits, and like the other three spirits, it comes from the star, which is the general name of the seven southern nights: 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 being far from fire, also called 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's divination as follows: the tortoise's back is black, and the tortoise's divination is to invite the tortoise to the underworld to ask questions, bring back the answers first, 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 the divination of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty was' its divination will be in the north', so Xuan Ming became a northern god again.

Xuanwu, like other three spirits, is also derived from the 28 stars on earth: bucket, ox, female, air, danger, house and wall. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu. Xuanwu' is a tortoise. "Book of Rites. "Quli Shang" says:' Zhu bird before departure, then 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. Located in the north, it is called Xuan. With a scale, 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.