I kicked the habit (kicked the habit, kicked the habit)
Shed my skin (shed my skin)
This is the new stuff (this is the new stuff)
I go dancing in (we can go dancing in)– Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer“
Happy Lunar New Year, folks, and welcome to the Year of the Snake. It begins today, January 29, 2025.
While many of us in Western cultures have been taught to take a dim view of the slithery creature — thanks to the serpent’s role in the Old Testament story of the fall of humanity — but that is not the case in the Eastern hemisphere. In much of Asia, the snake is “celebrated and revered” as a symbol of transformational change, writes Kimmy Yam in this NBC News story about the Lunar New Year.
(I also like that the Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival. That name is a nice reminder that the season of rebirth, growth, and renewal is on its way.)
A time of renewal and regeneration
No matter how you feel about snakes, or the Lunar New Year, the Gregorian calendar, Chinese astrology, or astrology of any form, I hope you’ll agree that as writers, we can learn from the symbolism this occasion offers.
First, the snake is a symbol of renewal. Just as a snake renews itself by shedding its skin, so we can leave behind those things that may hinder us from becoming better versions of ourselves.
The Year of the Snake is “all about renewal and regeneration,” Yam writes. She quotes Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University who studies Chinese folklore. Lee says the new year is about “shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits.”
It’s shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost. This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.
– Jonathan H.X. Lee
The professor also says the snake “is an auspicious sign for inner work, whether it’s releasing unrealistic expectations of loved ones or getting rid of bad habits.”
I’m all for getting rid of bad habits — of shedding those things that hinder me from my writing and my greater humanity. Among those things I need to shed are:
- My obsession with perfection with my first drafts of anything (including blog posts)
- The time I waste on social media — too much doomscrolling lately
- Procrastination
- Self-doubt
- Self-criticism
Of course, no need to wait for any new year to shake off bad habits. And since it’s going to be another 12 years before the next Year of the Snake, now’s as good a time as any to leave those things behind.
*
The Year of the Snake
By William He
Medusa’s walk creates sound of Zither,
Fey stretches scenery of the East beyond belief,
The soft vibrations of seraphic tone.
Across windswept hills and beaches,
Finding the guiding cloud,
Folks belted by intricate beats on diverse points.
The willow talking to the peach,
They are anxious to be heeded.
The cobra sways and entrances in glee.
Being taken on the video site Youku,
They smilingly give their poses and have things to tell.
In the serpent shadow the emerald scales shimmer,
The leaves in prayers pinned,
Hiding their wriggling with a faint smile.
Enigma wrapped in a riddle,
Half-closed Snake Eyes,
In the hushed whispers of the jungle.
There is a spectacle of fear and delight,
Hammering away what is loathsome,
Lost in the scansion created by people themselves then.
DeepSeek for the springtime,
Everything and nothing interrelated now.
Via Poetry.com
Image via Getty Images/Yahoo
Andy writes! 