Snake
"Snake" in regular Chinese characters
Chinese蛇
Zodiac snake, showing the shé (蛇) character for snake

The snake (蛇) is the sixth of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Snake is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 巳.[1]

According to one legend, there is a reason for the order of the animals in the cycle. The story goes that a race was held to cross a great river, and the order of the animals in the cycle was based upon their order in finishing the race. In this story, the snake compensated for not being the best swimmer by hitching a hidden ride on the Horse's hoof, and when the horse was just about to cross the finish line, jumping out, scaring the horse, and thus edging it out for sixth place.

The same twelve animals are also used to symbolize the cycle of hours in the day, each being associated with a two-hour time period. The hour of the snake is 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., the time when the Sun warms up the Earth, and snakes are said to slither out of their holes. The month of the snake is the 4th month of the Chinese lunar calendar and it usually falls within the months of May through June depending on the Chinese to Gregorian calendar conversion. The reason the animal signs are referred to as zodiacal is that one's personality is said to be influenced by the animal signs ruling the time of birth, together with elemental aspects of the animal signs within the sexagenary cycle. Similarly, the year governed by a particular animal sign is supposed to be characterized by it, with the effects particularly strong for people who were born in any year governed by the same animal sign.

In Chinese symbology, snakes are regarded as intelligent, with a tendency to lack scruples.[2]

Years and elements

People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Snake", while also bearing the following elemental sign:

Start dateEnd dateHeavenly branch
10 February 192929 January 1930Earth Snake
27 January 194114 February 1942Metal Snake
14 February 19532 February 1954Water Snake
2 February 196520 January 1966Wood Snake
18 February 19776 February 1978Fire Snake
6 February 198926 January 1990Earth Snake
24 January 200111 February 2002Metal Snake
10 February 201330 January 2014Water Snake
29 January 202516 February 2026Wood Snake
15 February 20373 February 2038Fire Snake
2 February 204922 January 2050Earth Snake
21 January 20618 February 2062Metal Snake
7 February 207326 January 2074Water Snake
26 January 208513 February 2086Wood Snake
12 February 209731 January 2098Fire Snake

In Japan, the new sign of the zodiac starts on 1 January, while in China it starts, according to the traditional Chinese calendar, at the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February, so that persons born in January or February may have two different signs in the two countries, but persons born in late February (i.e. on or after 20 February) automatically have one sign in both countries.

Basic astrological associations

Earthly branch:Si
Element:Fire
Planet:Venus
Yin Yang:Yin
Lunar month:Fourth
Lucky numbers:2, 8, 9
Lucky flowers:Orchid, cactus
Lucky colors:Red, light yellow, black; Avoid: white, golden, brown[3]
Season:Summer

The snake is the sixth of the twelve signs and belongs to the second trine, with the ox (second sign, 牛, Earthly branch: 丑) and the rooster (tenth sign, 雞/鷄 [simplified Chinese: 鸡], Earthly branch: 酉), with which it is most compatible. The pig is the most incompatible.[4]

Cultural notes

A Snake Year is sometimes referred to as a Little Dragon Year to assuage possible feelings of inadequacy among people born during a Snake Year.[5]

Depictions of zodiacal snakes, alone or with the other eleven signs, show how they have been imagined in the calendrical context.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Snake Horoscope Information Archived 2013-02-17 at archive.today Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Eberhard, sub "Snake (She)", p. 268.
  3. ↑ "Chinese Zodiac – Snake". Your Chinese Astrology. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Vansu Calendar, 23 January 2023
  5. ↑ Lary, Diana (2022). China's grandmothers : gender, family, and aging from late Qing to twenty-first century. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-009-06478-1. OCLC 1292532755.

References

  • Eberhard, Wolfram (2003 [1986 (German version 1983)]), A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00228-1
  • Vietnam Veterans for Factual History (2015). Indochina in the Year of the Snake, 1965. p. 288. ISBN 9781929932658.
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