2025: Year of the Wood Snake
The Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is celebrated at the beginning of the annual lunisolar calendar. Traditionally, it celebrates the end of winter and the new beginnings of spring.
Each year marks the pairing of a zodiac animal sign with an element. The 12 zodiac animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, and the five elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. These pairings repeat in a 60-year cycle. The element and animal signs can both complement and conflict with each other, and their interaction is believed to create harmony, balance, and order in the natural world. People born in a given year are said to embody unique traits symbolized by their zodiac animal and element, and the year itself is said to be defined by the qualities of the animal and associated element.
The animal and element for 2025 is the Wood Snake. Snakes often represent change and new beginnings, symbolic of the snake shedding its skin. People born in the Year of the Snake are said to be insightful, tenacious and intelligent. They can also be secretive and sly. The Wood element represents creativity and growth, like plants that renew themselves in the spring.
In Japan, the Year of the Snake is also associated with financial fortune. According to superstition, keeping a snake charm or a bit of snakeskin in your purse or wallet can bring monetary luck. This comes from the belief that white snakes are messengers of Benzaiten, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, who is the goddess of wealth, music, and literature.
The Year of the Snake can be an opportunity to let go of things that don't serve you well and commit to new practices that provide personal growth and community enrichment. Wishing you a happy and prosperous Year of the Snake!
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