SnakeOrigin

The character “蛇” (Snake) is a later character. Its earliest form was “它”—“它” was the original form of “蛇,” a pictographic character modeled after the shape of a Snake. In oracle-bone inscriptions, “它” resembles a thick, patterned Snake. Oracle-bone Snake forms occur in both single-line and double-hook forms, and the double-hook form represents the earliest form of “它.”

As the character “它” developed over successive periods, its strokes gradually became straighter. The portion resembling a Snake’s head gradually evolved into the form “宀,” while the portions resembling its body and tail gradually became “匕.” Because “它” was frequently borrowed for other uses in ancient texts, during the Qin and Han periods a later proper character emerged: the “虫” radical was added to “它,” forming the character “蛇.”

The character “它” also has an interesting cultural background. In remote antiquity, people lived in grass shelters or caves and were constantly afraid of Snake infestations, so when greeting one another they might ask “无它乎”, meaning, “No Snake has come into your home, has it?”, as an expression of reassurance and congratulations. “无它” later gradually evolved to mean “nothing else has happened” or “all is safe.” The phrase “无恙” likewise arose from this. This greeting vividly reflects how serious Snake infestations were in ancient times—the Snake was one of the most common threats in everyday life.

The connection between “Si” and the Snake is reflected not only in the twelve zodiac animals, but also permeates traditional Chinese festivals. The Shangsi Festival was one of the important festivals of ancient China. “Shangsi” referred to the first Si day of the third lunar month in the sexagenary day-counting calendar and was therefore also called Sansi, Yuansi, or Chusi. The Shangsi Festival originally possessed an extremely strong atmosphere of shamanic ritual, and its principal activity was sacrificial worship beside water to purge inauspicious influences; in the Zhou dynasty this was called “waterside purification.” On the third day of the third lunar month in the ninth year of Yonghe of the Eastern Jin dynasty, 353, Wang Xizhi and other scholars and gentlemen held the famous “purification ritual” at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, leaving behind the celebrated *Lantingji Xu* (《兰亭集序》). The Shangsi Festival is precisely a cultural extension of “Si” and the Snake.

The twelve earthly branches divide the day into twelve traditional two-hour periods. Si hour runs from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning and is also known as “Yuzhong.” By this time, the heavy mist has dispersed, the bright sun shines overhead, temperatures gradually rise, and Snakes begin emerging from their holes to search for food. Ancient texts record: “巳者，四月之卦，于时草茂，而蛇得其所。又，巳时蛇不上道，故属蛇。” Broadly speaking, this means that in the fourth lunar month vegetation flourishes and it is precisely the season when Snakes are especially active; by Si hour, however, it is already approaching noon, and Snakes conceal themselves among the grasses and no longer move about openly. Another explanation holds that Snakes do not harm people or roam along human paths during Si hour, but mostly remain hidden in the grass, and for this reason Si hour came to belong to the Snake. “Si” symbolizes growth and propagation, while the Snake is active during Si hour—the two therefore correspond naturally within the logic of time.

“Si” corresponds to the fourth lunar month, the first month of summer, whose solar terms are Beginning of Summer and Lesser Fullness. At this time temperatures rise rapidly and the slight chill of spring has already disappeared. Snakes are hibernating animals and are inactive when temperatures are low. By the fourth lunar month, temperatures have risen and vegetation is flourishing, making it precisely the peak season for frequent Snake activity. For this reason, people also called the fourth lunar month the Si month or the Snake month.

In terms of Yin-Yang attributes, “Si” belongs to Yin Fire among the twelve earthly branches. The Snake is a cold-blooded, or ectothermic, animal whose body temperature changes with its environment, creating an association with the temperature-related quality of Fire. At the same time, within the directional correspondences of the twelve earthly branches, “Si” corresponds to a direction southeast by south. The *Lunheng · Yandu Pian* (《论衡·言毒篇》) records: “辰为龙，巳为蛇，辰巳之位在东南。”

In 1975, the *Daozhe* section of the bamboo-slip *Rishu* (《日书·盗者》), unearthed from Qin Tomb No. 11 at Shuihudi in Yunmeng County, Hubei, recorded pairings related to the twelve zodiac animals. The tomb has been dated to the era of Qin Shi Huang, in the third century BCE. The zodiac pairings recorded in the *Rishu* are: Zi-Rat, Chou-Ox, Yin-Tiger, Mao-Rabbit, Chen-□, omitted in the original slip, Si-Insect, Wu-Deer, Wei-Horse, Shen-Huan, or Ape, You-Water, Xu-Old Goat, and Hai-Pig. Among them, the animal corresponding to “Si” is “蟲”, or insect. The renowned scholar Li Ling has pointed out: “所谓蟲、虫应即蛇。” The Type A Shuihudi Qin bamboo-slip *Rishu* pairs Si with 蟲, while the Kongjiapo Han bamboo-slip *Rishu* pairs Si with 虫; the terms 蟲 and 虫 should both refer to the Snake. At the time, the character “虫” was interchangeable with the character “蛇”; the ancients used “虫” broadly for crawling animals, and Snakes belonged to the category of “虫.”

The same phenomenon appears in the Qin bamboo slips unearthed at Fangmatan in Tianshui, Gansu. Type A of the Fangmatan bamboo-slip *Rishu* records: “子，鼠矣。丑，牛矣。寅，虎矣。卯，兔矣。辰，虫矣。巳，蛇矣……” However, the Fangmatan Qin bamboo-slip *Rishu* also contains a record pairing “Si” with the Rooster. This demonstrates that from the late Warring States through the Qin period, although the twelve-animal zodiac had already begun to take shape, the animal corresponding to “Si” had not yet been completely standardized, and regional differences still existed.

Together, these discoveries demonstrate that at least by the Warring States and Qin periods, in the third century BCE, the prototype of the twelve-animal zodiac had already appeared, while the pairing of “Si” with the Snake, or “insect,” had already begun to take shape.

The earliest transmitted text to record the same twelve zodiac animals as those used today is Wang Chong’s Eastern Han *Lunheng* (《论衡》). Wang Chong explicitly records in the *Lunheng · Wushi Pian* (《论衡·物势篇》): “午马也，子鼠也，酉鸡也、卯兔也”—he had already matched the twelve zodiac animals one by one with the twelve earthly branches. Although Wang Chong did not write out all twelve animals in his enumeration, later scholars generally believe that the twelve-animal zodiac system had already largely taken shape during the Eastern Han period.

Wang Chong also discusses the Snake specifically in the *Lunheng · Yandu Pian* (《论衡·言毒篇》): “辰为龙，巳为蛇，辰巳之位在东南。” This shows that by the Eastern Han period, the pairing of “Si” and the Snake had already acquired its classical formulation.

The *Shiji · Sanhuang Benji* (《史记·三皇本纪》) records that both Fuxi and Nüwa had “Snake bodies and human heads.” China’s earliest collection of mythology, the *Shanhaijing* (《山海经》), likewise contains many accounts of Snakes. These texts demonstrate that the Snake occupied an extremely important position in ancient mythology.

The twelve zodiac figurines, also known as divine figurines of the Twelve Branches, were distinctive burial objects in ancient Chinese funerary culture. At present, the earliest twelve zodiac figurines known through archaeology were unearthed from the Cui family tombs of the Northern Dynasties at Linzi, Shandong. From the Sui and Tang dynasties through the Five Dynasties, the form of zodiac figurines gradually evolved from animal prototypes to humans holding zodiac animals and then to figures with human bodies and animal heads. This reflects the transformation, alongside the development of history and civilization, from primitive animal worship toward the humanization of deities.

The Tang-dynasty *Tang Huiyao* (《唐会要》) records ritual regulations governing the burial of zodiac figurines. The twelve pottery zodiac figurines followed a fixed order inside tombs and were placed at the four corners of the burial chamber, three each in the East, South, West, and North, beginning with the Rat and ending with the Pig and arranged clockwise according to the orientation of Zi in the South and Wu in the North. The Snake figurine was placed in the direction representing southeast by south, corresponding to Si among the twelve earthly branches. These zodiac figurines were intended to have the twelve deities take turns guarding the tomb occupant, securing peace and auspiciousness and driving away evil and misfortune. They reflect the ancient Chinese funerary principle of “serving the dead as one serves the living.”

A set of Tang-dynasty painted pottery figurines of the twelve zodiac animals now held by the Shaanxi History Museum was unearthed from the joint tomb of Sun Chengsi, a Changxuan official of the Tang Ministry of War, and his wife Lady Gao in the southern suburbs of Xi’an. The Si-Snake figurine has a Snake’s head and a human body and is dressed in the attire of a civil official—a Snake raises its head and turns arrogantly to one side as if looking at visitors, while wearing civil-official clothing. The figurines in this set range from 21.5 to 25.8 centimeters in height. The group uses fine red earthenware as the principal body material and was designed and produced using separate mold sections; the surfaces were given a white base before being colored through painting. Each figurine has an animal head and human body, stands upright with its head raised, holds its hands together inside its sleeves, wears a cross-collared, wide-sleeved robe reaching the ground with a chest sash, and square shoes. The set is complete, vividly modeled, and constitutes a rare artistic masterpiece.

The Snake-head bronze of the Old Summer Palace formed part of the hydraulic clock system at Haiyantang, designed during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty under the direction of the Italian missionary Giuseppe Castiglione and supervised by the French missionary Michel Benoist. Twelve statues with animal heads and human bodies were arranged in two diverging rows in the shape of the character “八” beside the fountain pool before Haiyantang. At each traditional two-hour period, the corresponding animal head spouted water from its mouth to mark the time. During Si hour, from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning, the Snake-head bronze projected a column of water from its mouth. In 1860, Anglo-French forces burned the Old Summer Palace, and the twelve zodiac bronzes were looted and dispersed overseas.

The stone-carved Snake image of the Twelve Branches unearthed from a Tang tomb at Yaojiajing in Xicheng District, Beijing, is a standing zodiac figurine with a Snake’s head and human body and constitutes important material evidence for Tang-dynasty zodiac figurines.

Images of the Si-Snake also appear on bronze mirrors. From the Sui and Tang dynasties through the Qing, twelve-zodiac mirrors were an important medium through which zodiac culture entered everyday life.

The myths and legends surrounding the Si-Snake stand apart among the twelve zodiac animals in both their richness and their exalted status. From the ancestral myths of Fuxi and Nüwa to the romantic legend of *The Legend of the White Snake*, the Snake’s mythological image encompasses almost every sphere, including creation, reproduction, love, and medicine.

This is the most exalted and sacred myth associated with the Snake.

The *Shiji · Sanhuang Benji* (《史记·三皇本纪》) records that both Fuxi and Nüwa had “Snake bodies and human heads.” Volume Two of the *Yiwen Leiju* (《艺文类聚》), quoting the *Diwang Shiji* (《帝王世纪》), contains the descriptions “庖羲氏……蛇身人首” and “女娲氏……亦蛇身人首.” Most of the “gods,” “divine humans,” or “heroes” of China’s remote ancient legends possessed human heads and Snake bodies. Guo Pu’s commentary on the *Shanhaijing · Dahuang Xijing* (《山海经·大荒西经》) states: “女娲，古神女而帝者，人面蛇身，一日中七十变。” This demonstrates that the Snake was not only an animal that people feared, but also one that they regarded as spiritually endowed.

Large numbers of images of Fuxi and Nüwa mating have survived from the Han dynasty. On these Han pictorial stones, Fuxi and Nüwa are personified as beings with human heads and Snake bodies. The images depict Fuxi and Nüwa with human heads and serpentine bodies intertwined. In some, Fuxi raises the sun in one hand and Nüwa raises the moon in one hand; both have human heads and Snake bodies, their two tails intertwine, and the composition is symmetrical. Images of Fuxi and Nüwa appear repeatedly in Han pictorial stones, always in half-human, half-animal form. The intertwined mating of Fuxi and Nüwa carved on Han pictorial stones embodies ideas of male and female reproduction and the union of Yin and Yang. Images of Fuxi and Nüwa with human heads, Snake bodies, and intertwined tails appeared widely in Han-dynasty tomb chambers and ancestral shrines, carrying the ancient hope for unbroken descendants and the endless continuation of life.

Fuxi and Nüwa are both mythological figures, and their human-headed, Snake-bodied forms constitute powerful evidence that people in remote antiquity worshipped the Snake as a divine being. Ancient humanity used the Snake as a totem and regarded it as an “ancestral deity.” This belief found its fullest expression in the myths of Fuxi and Nüwa.

The *Shanhaijing* contains a large number of myths related to Snakes:

Xiangliu: The *Shanhaijing · Dahuang Beijing* (《山海经·大荒北经》) records that Xiangliu was a minister of Gonggong, with a “Snake body and nine heads,” and wherever he went became marshland. Xiangliu was greedy and cruel and was ultimately killed by Yu.

Ba Snake: The *Shanhaijing · Hainei Nanjing* (《山海经·海内南经》) records: “巴蛇食象，三岁而出其骨。” The Ba Snake was a gigantic Snake capable of swallowing an elephant. This is the origin of the expression “巴蛇吞象,” which describes insatiable greed and a desire that can never be satisfied.

Xuanyuan Kingdom: The *Shanhaijing · Haiwai Xijing* (《山海经·海外西经》) records that Xuanyuan Kingdom lay at the edge of Qiong Mountain and that its people had “human faces and Snake bodies, with tails meeting above their heads.” Thus, in the realm of the Yellow Emperor, people were likewise represented with human heads and Snake bodies.

These divine Snake figures demonstrate that by the pre-Qin period, the Snake had already been endowed with supernatural divinity. It was not merely a reptile of the mortal world, but a spiritual being belonging to both Heaven and the human realm.

This is the classic and most widely circulated legend explaining how the Snake became a zodiac animal.

According to legend, long ago the Snake and Frog were good friends. At that time, however, the Snake had four legs, while the Frog had no legs and moved by wriggling on its belly. The Snake was gluttonous and lazy, while the Frog was extremely hardworking. The Frog not only caught insects for the Snake to eat but also helped people eliminate harmful pests. Naturally, humans disliked the Snake and liked the Frog. When the Snake discovered that people hated it, it began to resent humanity. It bit people whenever it saw them and ate livestock whenever it encountered them, bringing great unrest to the human world. The Earth God saw this and reported the matter to the Celestial Palace. The Jade Emperor summoned the Snake to Heaven and urged it to abandon evil and follow goodness, but the Snake responded with arrogant words and showed no intention whatsoever of repenting. The Jade Emperor was furious and ordered divine soldiers to cut off the Snake’s four legs so that it could no longer harm people. From then onward, the Snake lost all four of its legs. Seeing that the Frog had rendered meritorious service to humanity, the Jade Emperor gave the Snake’s four legs to the Frog.

After reflecting upon its actions, the Snake realized its mistakes and reformed itself. Determined to change, it also began eating harmful insects and silently performed good deeds for humanity while dragging its long body behind it. The Snake also followed the Dragon and learned how to control floods. After its death, it even offered its own body to humankind to be used as medicine for treating many illnesses. Seeing that the Snake could recognize its faults, reform itself, and strive for improvement, the Jade Emperor, when conferring the twelve zodiac positions, placed it immediately after the Dragon, allowing it to enter the twelve-animal zodiac and become one of humanity’s zodiac signs.

After becoming a zodiac animal, the Snake never again actively harmed people. Yet it continued to resent the Frog for possessing its four legs, and so even today, whenever a Snake sees a Frog, it swallows it in a single bite. Knowing that it benefited at the Snake’s expense, the Frog trembles with fear whenever it sees a Snake and hurriedly hides. This legend gives the Snake a positive image of “recognizing its errors and starting anew.” The Snake earned its place among the zodiac through its own efforts; its position was the result of striving for itself.

One of the Snake’s most distinctive biological characteristics is the shedding of its skin. In folk legend, after the Snake became a zodiac animal, it no longer actively harmed people; whenever an evil thought arose, it transformed that evil thought into a layer of skin and shed it, symbolizing the abandonment of evil and the embrace of goodness. The Snake’s habit of shedding its skin was endowed in mythology with profound meanings of regeneration, renewal, and turning away from evil toward goodness. The ancients regarded Snake shedding as the miraculous ability to “die and return to life” and “renew oneself,” which is also an important reason why the Snake came to symbolize longevity. The Snake’s cleverness and strategic nature remind people that life requires wisdom and flexibility in confronting challenges.

In *The Legend of the White Snake* (《白蛇传》), one of China’s four best-known folk legends, the Snake is portrayed as kind, beautiful, and faithful.

The heroine, Lady White, is a beautiful woman transformed from a White Snake that had cultivated itself for a thousand years; her “maid,” Xiaoqing, was likewise transformed from a Green Snake that had cultivated itself for several hundred years. Lady White is not only beautiful but also compassionate like a bodhisattva, understands medicine, and treats illnesses among ordinary people. In Tianjin folk society and sacred-association performances, the White Snake wears plain white attire, while the Green Snake wears green; both carry swords and appear handsome and graceful, combining softness and charm with fortitude. *The Legend of the White Snake* portrays the Snake spirit Bai Suzhen as a good person who is always helping ordinary people. In folk belief, the Snake immortal is also one of the Five Household Immortals who protect the family. Perhaps because the Snake’s body bends softly like a willow branch, the Snake immortal is also called the Willow Immortal. The story of *The Legend of the White Snake* gave the Snake an unprecedentedly positive image in Chinese folk culture—the Snake was no longer merely a frightening cold-blooded animal, but a spiritual being capable of emotion, loyalty, and the pursuit of love and happiness.

According to the *Shiji · Gaozu Benji* (《史记·高祖本纪》), before Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty, rose in rebellion, he was once traveling through the marshes around Mount Mangdang when a large White Snake blocked his path. Liu Bang drew his sword and killed it. Later, someone passing through the area encountered an old woman crying. She said that her son was the son of the White Emperor, who had transformed into a Snake and blocked the road, only to be killed by the son of the Red Emperor. The story of “Liu Bang slaying the White Snake” is one of the most famous imperial myths in Chinese history. In this story, the White Snake is granted the divine identity of “son of the White Emperor”—the Snake is both a god and a rival to imperial power. Liu Bang’s slaying of the Snake symbolizes the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven from the White Emperor, the Qin dynasty, to the Red Emperor, the Han dynasty. Here the Snake plays the role of a symbol of the former dynasty.

In Chinese folk belief, the Snake is regarded as a spiritually endowed animal. In some regions, the appearance of a household Snake inside a home is considered an auspicious sign. In folk tradition, the Snake is called the “Chang Immortal” or “Willow Immortal” and is ranked alongside the Fox Immortal, Yellow Immortal, and others among the Five Household Immortals. The Snake’s inclusion in the zodiac probably relates to totem worship; it was primitive religion that secured the Snake a place among the twelve animals. People often avoid saying “born in the Year of the Snake” and instead say “born under the Little Dragon.” This euphemistic expression both conveys reverence toward the Snake and reflects the close relationship between Snake and Dragon.

As zodiac culture spread, it incorporated elements from the local cultures of different countries, and the image of the Snake developed different forms across East Asia.

Viewed across the origins and evolution of the Si-Snake zodiac, one particularly distinctive phenomenon emerges: among all twelve zodiac animals, the Snake is the only one that simultaneously possesses the dual identity of “ancestor of humanity” and “cold-blooded animal.” This contradictory yet unified identity precisely reveals the deeper logic of zodiac culture.

Characters and texts tell us that because Snakes emerge from their holes to search for food during Si hour and because the fourth lunar month brings flourishing vegetation and frequent Snake activity, the Snake forms a profound correspondence in spirit and temperament with the meanings of the earthly branch “Si”: “growth” and “propagation.” The record of “Si-insect” in the Qin bamboo-slip *Rishu* demonstrates that by the late Warring States period, the pairing of “Si” with the Snake, or insect, had already begun to take shape; the explicit record “辰为龙，巳为蛇” in the Eastern Han *Lunheng* marked the final standardization of the “Si-Snake” pairing.

Archaeology reveals an even deeper cultural foundation. From the pottery vessel decorated with a Snake holding a toad in its mouth at the Chahai site 8,000 years ago to the vessel with applied Snake motifs from the Banpo site 7,000 years ago, the transmission of Snake-patterned pottery across thousands of years demonstrates that the Snake was one of the earliest animals to enter the spiritual world of ancient peoples. The Snake’s hibernation and skin shedding were regarded as miraculous abilities of “death and rebirth” and “self-renewal,” while its reproductive power made it a symbol of fertility worship. Among all forms of animal worship, Snake worship was the most widespread among the ancestors of China—the Snake totem was the earliest totem and the prototype of the Dragon totem.

What truly gives the Si-Snake its soul is the vast world of myths and legends. In these narratives born among the people, the Snake is Fuxi and Nüwa, the “Snake-bodied and human-headed” ancestors who gave birth to the Huaxia people; it is the supernatural Xiangliu and Ba Snake of the *Shanhaijing*; it is the inspirational figure that earns a place in the zodiac by reforming itself; it is the loyal and affectionate Snake immortal of *The Legend of the White Snake*; and it is the political symbol of the “son of the White Emperor” in the story of Liu Bang slaying the Snake. The Snake moved from the ancestral altar into the zodiac sequence, transforming from a frightening cold-blooded animal into a spiritual being capable of emotion and loyalty. This rich range of identities spanning mythology and reality makes the Snake one of the zodiac animals with the most complex cultural meanings.

When the Snake zodiac traveled beyond the Central Plains to Japan, Vietnam, and the Korean Peninsula, it acquired new forms within different cultures—the water deity and god of abundant harvests in Japan, the auspicious symbol of Vietnam—while in Thailand it even replaced the Dragon under the identity of the Nāga. This perhaps suggests that the vitality of a cultural symbol lies not in whether it is reproduced without any change, but in whether it possesses sufficient inclusiveness and symbolic power for every culture that receives it to find its own voice within it. The Si-Snake is precisely such a symbol. It winds its way out of the grasses of remote antiquity, carrying the secret of rebirth through skin shedding and the glory of Fuxi and Nüwa, leaving upon the lifeblood of Chinese civilization its oldest and deepest imprint.

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