Why is the north quadrant the dark quadrant?
In the northern hemisphere, as the sun rises in the east moves toward the south and then sets in the west, it will be noticed that there is always a shadow on the northern side of trees, buildings, and such. This is the dark side. Also, in the night sky there are “watcher” stars which helped in ancient times to divide up the sky into degrees. These stars were: Aldebaran in the Spring/east, Regulus in the Summer/south, and Antares in the Fall/west, all of which were first magnitude stars. However in the constellations associated with Winter/north, there was no first magnitude star so a second magnitude star was selected: Fomalhaut. This again made the north the place of darkness.