The Benefits of Being Born in the Year of the Snake (2013)

With Chinese New Year soon upon us, we take a look at what the pros and cons are of being born in the Year of the Snake.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year falls on the 10th of February this year, and ushers in the transition from the year of the Dragon to the year of the Snake. Chinese New Year is celebrated throughout a week of festivities including firework displays, feasts, and visits to temple. The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar, based on the moon rather than following the Roman calendar as in the West, which means that the New Year starts at a different date each year (on the Western calendar). Before we look at the benefits of being born in the year of the Snake (this year, as well as 2001, 1989 and 1977), let us tell you the tale of how the Chinese Zodiac years got their various animal representatives.

The Great Race

The story of the Chinese zodiac, known as The Great Race, is an ancient Chinese tale. There are many versions of the tale that vary slightly, but the general gist of them is as follows; The Jade Emperor announced to his kingdom that he was calling a meeting to arrange names for the 12 years of the Chinese zodiac calendar, and that each of the first 12 animals to arrive at his meeting point would be awarded a year named after them. The animals of the kingdom raced to meet the Jade Emperor, with the Rat and the Cat at the forefront of proceedings, strategizing together (more on this later). 

When the Rat and Cat came to a river they needed to cross to meet the emperor, they asked the kind and naive Ox for passage over the river on its back. The Ox obliged and took off swimming. Halfway across the river, the Rat pushed the Cat into the water, so as to claim a higher place for itself (other tales say that the Rat left the Cat at home before starting the race, choosing to leave it sleeping whilst the Rat got a head start). The Ox reached the other side of the river, and was about to be named first in the zodiac list, but right at the finish line, the Rat jumped off the Ox’s kindly head, claiming first place in the Chinese zodiac. The Ox came next, followed by the Tiger in third place who was knackered after swimming across the current of the river. Fourth place went to the Rabbit, who hopped from stone to stone to cross the river, and then relied on a drifting log to bring him to shore, followed by the Dragon, who would have come first except he needed to take a detour to provide all people and creatures of the world with rain, and he also helped the struggling Rabbit by blowing it’s log to shore. The Horse came next, with the Snake cheekily wrapped around it’s hoof. The sight of the Snake scared the Horse backwards, and meant that Snake crept into 6th place, and Horse took 7th. 8th, 9th and 10th were taken by Goat, Monkey, and Rooster respectively who all collaborated to make it across the river. 11th place went to the Dog, who was a great swimmer, but got distracted having fun in the water, and finally 12th went to the Pig, who was late having eaten some food and taken a nap. The Cat arrived in 13th and was denied a zodiac year, which he blamed on the Rat, and is why Cats will always chase and eat Rats whenever the two are together.

Types of Snake

The Snake therefore is the 6th of the zodiac animals. But what does it mean to be born in the year of the Snake? Each animal has different attributes that are bestowed on those who are born in their year, and which change depending on what ‘element’ of snake you are, something that changes each time the year of the snake comes around. Lets take a look at the different snake varieties;

• Water Snakes (a.k.a. Black Snakes); these snakes are supposed to be influential and insightful, organised, good at managing, motivated, intellectual, determined, and affectionate with those they are close to. This year is the year of the water snake, and is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline, when applied by those born in the year of the Water Snake, will achieve whatever they set out to create.
• Metal Snake; These Snakes are willful, protective, aware, money oriented, sly, and ultimately selfish which helps them to achieve their goals.
• Wood Snake; solidity and foundation are a big part of the Wood Snakes, they are less vane, love close family and friends, are kind, and genuine, but work best alone.
• Fire Snake; Much as you’d expect Firey people to be, these Snakes are loud, vibrant and extroverted, they speak their minds, are considered wise, good communicators, persuasive, self-centred, and driven.
• Earth Snake; These Snakes, due to being ‘of-the-earth’ are relaxed, calm, down-to-earth, friendly, less risk taking and sly than normal Snakes, they have good sense, and their good work ethic leads to material gain.

Overall Characteristics of a Snake (Pros and Cons);

There are some general characteristics of the Snake that are applicable to all modes of the Snake, and are both positive and negative in nature. 

Pros: The benefits of being born in the year of the Snake include being; keen, cunning, intelligent, wise, intuitive, introspective, refined, calm and contemplative. Other readings suggest that Snakes are enigmatic, intuitive, appreciate beauty (therefore have good taste), people born in the year of the Snake are generally considered to be good with finance, and are considered highly creative, thoughtful individuals too. These attributes are supposed to represent a snake’s character and therefore is representative of those people who are born in the year of the Snake.  

Cons: The negatives associated with being born in the year of the Snake include being considered; highly private and saying little (though this could be a positive as well), being vicious, egoistic, and conceited. Pride is a big part of those born in the year of the Snake, which can have negative consequences when combined with egotism and risk taking, should those risky ventures fail.

Strangely, when in the year of your animal (so for anyone born in 2001, 1989, or 1977) you can suffer bad luck. This is because, it being your zodiac year, you can become complacent about achieving your goals, or gaining certain attributes, and instead expect luck to fall on you. So be aware of this and work extra hard to achieve the things you desire this year if you are a Snake. This shouldn’t be too hard, as it is one of the positive traits that Snakes possess.

As an added bonus, here’s some extra information that will affect you Snakes this year. Those of you born in the year of the Snake are compatible with Oxes and Roosters, but incompatible with Tigers and Pigs. Your lucky colours this year will be Red and Yellow (the traditional Chinese New Year colours), Monday will be your lucky day, and your lucky numbers are 2,4,7, and 9 (not quite enough digits for a lottery ticket, but your luck with finance should help you to pick the rest).

While some of this information may seem to perfectly describe you as a Snake or may have an affect on your attitude to the upcoming Chinese New Year, it’s wise to take these descriptions and predictions with a pinch of salt. Trying to predict the temperament and forthcoming year’s fortune for an entire years worth of births is an arduous and futile task that many would claim is impossible. Regardless, for all of you reading this, I wish you a lucky, prosperous Chinese New Year, ‘Gong Hei Fat Choy!’