The Year Of The Snake

Happy New Year! Today heralds the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Snake. Each year in the Chinese Zodiac New Year’s day falls on a different date, and this year’s date is February 10, 2013.

The Snake Year comes sixth in the cycle of the zodiac and reoccurs every 12th year. This means that you are a Snake if you were born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1989 or 2001. Ancient Chinese wisdom states that if you have a snake in your house your family will never go hungry, because a snake is said to be sage, wise and a good protector of his or her family’s belongings and home.

The Chinese Zodiac is a lunar-based calendar and the Chinese New Year is sometimes referred to as The Lunar New Year. The cycle flows as follows: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.

The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names ~ Chinese Proverb

To gain a fundamental understanding of how the Chinese Zodiac works you simply think of the qualities associated with the animal representing each cycle. Each animal are therefore representative of the attributes of people who fall under each particular sign. For example, someone born under the Chinese sign of the dog will tend to be very loyal and they also love to eat – pretty much anything will do!

There are also more complex attributes for each sign. The characteristics of the Chinese animal signs are tempered by one of the five Chinese elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth overlaying a 5-year cycle of characteristics on the original 12-year cycle. For example, depending on the cycle of your birth you may be a Metal Dog, a Wooden Dog, or Fire Dog. The elemental focus adds deeper dimensions to each sign.

Then you can also look into whether or not the subject was born in the morning, or at night. Dog people born at night, for example, are said to have a tendency to stay up later ‘barking at the moon’ so to speak, just like their animal counterparts!

Each Zodiac sign also has a corresponding Buddhist patron. Buddhism arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century AD and the Japanese eagerly adopted both the teachings of Buddhism and the Chinese Zodiac. The Chinese calendar was officially adopted in Japan in 604 AD and is known there as Kanshi. The 12 animals signs are known as the Jūni Shi.

An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold ~ Chinese Proverb

The Chinese Zodiac’s popularity in Japan peaked during the Edo era (1600-1868 AD), by which time each of the 12 animals were had come to be associated with one of eight Buddhist patrons. The protector deities include four patrons guarding the four cardinal directions and four guarding the four semi-directions. The latter are each associated with two animals each, thus covering all 12 animals.

In modern times Japan and China have adopted the Gregorian Calendar, but Chinese Astrology and the Chinese Zodiac is still used in everyday life, as well as fortune telling and divination practices. The Chinese Zodiac is also popular in the West. Some astrologers even combine it with Western Astrology. For example, I am a Taurus Fire Horse!

The Year of the Snake symbolizes the ‘shedding of your old skin’ and becoming who you are really meant to be. Now is the time to cleanse your space and hang red paper cutlets around your open doors and windows to invite prosperity, good health and longevity. This year is also a good time to watch your finances and save some money; keep in mind the old saying: waste not, want not.