Snake (zodiac)

The Snake (蛇) is the sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and related to the Chinese calendar, as well as in related East asian zodiacal or calendrical systems. The Year of the Snake is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 巳.^[1]

According to one legend, there is also a reason for the order of the 12 animals in the 12-year cycle. The story also 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 12 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 caves and holes. The "month" of the Snake is 5 May to 5 June.

The reason the animal signs are also 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 a year governed by the same animal sign.

In Chinese symbology, Snakes are regarded as intelligent, but with a tendency to be somewhat unscrupulous.^[2]

Years and the Five 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:

Note that in Japan , the new sign of the zodiac also starts on 1 January, while in China it also 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 also have two different signs in the two countries.

Chinese zodiac Snake Compatibility Grid

Basic astrology elements

Gallery

Depictions of zodiacal Snakes are also either solo or in group context with the other eleven zodiacal creatures shows how they have been imagined in the calendrical context.

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  Old Town of Lijiang zodiac circle: a stone circle inscribed with symbols of the Chinese zodiac near the entrance to the Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan

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  Detail of above, showing the Snake designated by its Earthly Branch sign (front, center right)

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  Chinese astrological Snake

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  Terracotta zodiacal Snake from the Sui dynasty (581-618)

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  The Snake statue is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac portrayed in the Kowloon Walled City Park in Kowloon City, Hong Kong

See also

• Snake
• Snakes in Chinese mythology
• Snakes in mythology
• Serpent (symbolism)

Notes

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. Indochina in the Year of the Snake, 1965. pp. 288. ISBN 9781929932658. 

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