Thesnake (蛇) is the sixth of the twelve-year cycle ofanimals which appear in theChinese zodiac related to theChinese calendar. TheYear of the Snake is associated with theEarthly Branchsymbol巳.^[1] Besides its use in the cycle of years, the zodiacal snake is otherwise used to also represent hours of the day. Snakes have a long and complicated place in Chinese mythology and culture.

Snake
"Snake" inregular Chinese characters
Chinese	蛇
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shé Wade–Giles shê2 IPA [ʂɤ̌] Hakka Romanization sà Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization sèh Jyutping se4 IPA [sɛ˩] Southern Min HokkienPOJ chôa Old Chinese Baxter (1992) *ljAj Baxter–Sagart (2014) *Cə.lAj

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 theSun 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 aszodiacal is that one's personality is said to be influenced by the animal signs ruling the time of birth, together withelemental aspects of the animal signs within thesexagenary 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]

According to onelegend, there is a reason for the order of the animals in the cycle. 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, thesnake compensated for not being the best swimmer by hitching a hidden ride on theHorse's hoof. When the horse was about to cross the finish line, the snake jumped out, scaring the horse, and thus edging it out for sixth place.

According to Chinese and related traditions, people born within the date ranges of the snake year have been said to have been born in the "Year of the Snake". Each snake year may traditionally be said to correspond with a cycle of five changes ofWuxing (Chinese philosophy), often translated as "elements". The following table lists dates for years of the snake together with the associated elemental signs:

InJapan, the new sign of the zodiac starts on 1 January, while inChina it starts, according to the traditional Chinese calendar, at thenew 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.

Astrology is a cross-cultural phenomenon which remains popular in many cultures or subcultures. These modern trends include a tendency towardssyncretism, in which various beliefs of different origin are compounded together. The following table gives examples of this, with such popular ideas as lucky numbers (numerology), lucky colors and lucky times (general aspects of the idea ofluck), together with the suggestions toward choosing a suitable partner for anintimate relationship,marriage, orbusiness, for people born during a snake year or generally for the year.

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

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.

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  Old Town of Lijiangzodiac circle: a stone circle inscribed withsymbols of theChinese zodiac near the entrance to theOld Town of Lijiang,Yunnan
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  Detail of above, showing the Snake designated by itsEarthly Branch sign (front, center right)
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  Terracottazodiacal Snake from theSui dynasty (581-618).
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  The Snake statue is one of the 12Chinese zodiac portrayed in theKowloon Walled City Park inKowloon City,Hong Kong

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

• 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. RADIX Press. p. 288.ISBN 9781929932658.

•   Media related toSnake (zodiac) at Wikimedia Commons