Since ancient times, the Chinese have respected nature, and one of the more representative ones is the study of stars.
In ancient times, people learned to use the sun, moon, and stars to identify directions and guide agricultural life. They also connected the misfortunes and blessings of the world with the stars, and even cast a mysterious veil on the stars. , today, let’s take a look at the famous Big Dipper.
If the ancients were lost in the desert, one of the ways to find the way was to look at the North Star, because the North Star is the symbol of the north and can be used to point the direction. So how to find the North Star? This brings us to the protagonist of this article - the Big Dipper. The shape of the Big Dipper is like a spoon for scooping wine, so it is called "Dou". The sixth and seventh stars counted from the spoon handle to the mouth of the spoon are connected and extended about five times the distance. The star encountered is the North Star. This is how the ancients used the North Star to determine the direction.
The Big Dipper, as the name suggests, has seven stars. From the handle to the mouth of the spoon, they are named Yaoguang, Kaiyang, Yuheng, Tianquan, Tianji, Tianxuan and Tianshu respectively. The last four stars form the spoon. A semi-circular spoon, the first three stars form the handle of the spoon. The North Star can be found by connecting Tianxuan to Tianshu, so these two stars are also called "pole stars". In fact, when it comes to the Big Dipper, many people should not be unfamiliar with it, because when you watch martial arts TV series and Taoism is involved in it, you can always hear the words about the Big Dipper. For example, in Mr. Jin Yong’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the Quanzhen Sect has the Tiangang Big Dipper. The Seven Star Formation was created by Wang Chongyang, the founder of the religion; Mr. Qian Bao's "Sou Shen Ji" mentioned that "the South Dipper is the master of life, the Beidou is the master of death" and so on. And the Wenquxing and Wuquxing we often talk about refer to Tianquan and Kaiyang stars. This is a Taoist saying. Taoism calls the seven stars respectively Yaoguang - Pojunxingjun, Kaiyang - Wuquxingjun and Yuheng. ——Lian Zhenxingjun, Tianquan—Wenquxingjun, Tianji—Lucunxingjun, Tianxuan, Jumenxingjun, Tianshu—Greed Wolf Starlord.
The Big Dipper, also known as the Big Dipper Nine Stars, can be seen in some ancient books. The seven stars mentioned above plus the auxiliary star and the Bi star are called the Big Dipper Nine Stars. However, the auxiliary and Bi stars are hidden stars. Generally speaking, they are hidden stars. It cannot be seen. In many numerology interpretations, seeing these two stars is considered to be a sign of good luck. It is almost like "Young man, you can see things that others cannot see, and you have the appearance of being rich and powerful." In addition, the Big Dipper belongs to the Ursa Major in the northern constellation. They are also called α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, and eta stars in the order from Tianshu to Fluctuation. Every time I see this place, I think of it. The fear of being dominated by mathematics.
In ancient times, the Big Dipper was not only used to determine direction, but also to determine the seasons. It is mentioned in the book "Guanzi: Circulation Chapter": "When the handle of the bucket points to the east, it is spring all over the world; when the handle of the bucket points to the south, it is summer all over the world; when the handle of the bucket points to the west, it is autumn all over the world; when the handle of the bucket points to the north, it is winter all over the world. "Mr. Wang Li also used this sentence to describe the Big Dipper in his book "Common Sense of Ancient Chinese Culture".