Now that the Year of the Snake has begun, the atmosphere is one of rebirth and revitalization.
Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam, and other celebrations are all part of the Lunar New Year, which starts on January 29 and lasts for more than two weeks.
According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, the celebration, also called the Spring Festival, commemorates the coming of spring and the beginning of a new year.
The snake is a celebrated and revered symbol in the Eastern hemisphere, despite its negative reputation in many Western civilizations. And if people are willing to move on, this year should be one of positive change as they slither into new beginnings.
According to Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University whose study includes Chinese folklore, it’s all about removing toxicity from personality and character traits.
According to Lee, it involves letting go of the ego, the past, wrath, and lost love. That kind of growth, both internal and external, personal and macro, is quite likely to occur this year.
According to Lee, the snake is a lucky symbol for inward work, such as letting go of negative habits or having irrational expectations of loved ones.
“The snake is most commonly associated with intelligence, resilience, and love.” According to Lee, the snake corresponds to the years of those born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, and 2025. And it’s believed that persons born in those years will stop at nothing to achieve a goal.
According to Lee, they are recognized to possess an intrinsic capacity for success due to their capacity for creative problem-solving and their tenacity.
More precisely, the wood element has deep significance in all three of the major organized Chinese religions, making this year the year of the wood snake. In Confucianism, the wood represents becoming a more refined individual, whereas in Daoism, it represents returning to one’s native state or true nature. It is linked to letting go in order to progress in Buddhism.
According to Lee, two folktales serve as the foundation for the snake’s positive attributes. Originally a cheerful, four-legged creature, the snake in the Chinese zodiac’s genesis narrative grew enraged when other animals shunned him due to his looks. The snake’s rage turned into physical changes, such as sprouting fangs, and he snapped at the other creatures, accusing the Jade Emperor of making him that way.
When the Jade Emperor learned about it, he punished him by amputating his legs. The heavenly king said the snake might win a gift and possibly get his legs back if it defeated the other animals in a race that would ultimately determine the zodiac’s order.
The snake ranked sixth despite losing, and the emperor was impressed by his tenacity and commitment. He was designated as one of the zodiac’s twelve animals by the monarch. The race also altered the snake’s course in other ways.
He developed self-control over that rage. However, Lee claimed that because that rage had been a part of him for so long, he felt the want to go out and bite and hurt people. In order to let go of that history, he would remain alone and eventually grow out of his old skin.
Love is also connected to snakes.
An eternal white snake masquerading as a maiden falls in love with a man in one version of the Legend of the White Snake, one of China’s four major classic folktales. When the man finds out who she really is, he dies, so she tries to save him by stealing from the tree of immortality. When an emperor who was watching over the enchanted tree caught her in the act, she reveals that she had loved the man for thousands of years because he had previously saved her life.
According to Lee, their cosmic connection persisted throughout their lives.
The emperor pushed her to go save her spouse because he was so affected by the love story.
According to Lee, the snake is a symbol of love for those who are raised in this kind of cultural environment with these kinds of folktales and stories.