Sa (Snake)

Those born in the year of the Snake are said to inherit the nature of a snake already full of yang energy: very busy and always on the move, active and hasty, but clear-cut and without lingering grudges. Their ways open in every direction, the symbols encyclopedia says, and many form ties with foreign lands; at heart they are wise, and their nature is bound up with immortality, abundance, fertility and wealth.

The encyclopedia also gives a portrait of each of the five Snake years of the sixty-year cycle: those born in an eulsa year (乙巳) are witty, sensitive and creative, gifted for literature and the arts; jeongsa (丁巳), frank, cheerful and clear-cut, quick and competitive; gisa (己巳), wise and bright, drawn to study and steadfast in their purpose; sinsa (辛巳), perfectionists who hold to principles, suited to public office and working life; gyesa (癸巳), warm-hearted and active, fortunate in career and money alike, and skilled at getting on in the world. For people of the Snake, it adds, the samjae — the three years of misfortune — fall in the years of the Pig, the Rat and the Ox.

Koreans of old regarded the snake as a guardian of the house, a god that brought peace to the family and, for fishing folk, a good catch. Jeju Island, whose warm climate suits snakes, has kept this folklore especially well: one of the earthenware jars that held the household's food was revered as the god Anchilseong, and in the backyard a god made of straw, Batchilseong, was worshipped. In the eleventh lunar month the character for snake (蛇) was posted upside down on the main gate to drive evil spirits away.

Folk belief also set the snake on a ladder: a snake grows into a great serpent, and the serpent, grown larger still, becomes an imugi, a hornless dragon; if the imugi wins the magic jewel (如意珠) or the right chance, it rises to become a dragon. In our own day, the museum notes, the snake has lost much of its image of fear and cunning, and some Koreans even keep reptiles as pets.

Because the snake vanishes in winter and comes back to shed its skin and grow, ancient people believed that it stood for immortality, regeneration and eternal life — "a being reborn from death each time, enjoying everlasting life", in the words of the symbols encyclopedia — and saw in it an earth god (地神) that guarded tombs to give the dead new life. Because it lays many eggs at once, it was also revered as a god of fertility, abundance, fortune and happiness in the family.

The snake is a healer, too. The museum recalls the staff of Asclepius, and in Korea its shed skin was a medicine: the geography section of the Annals of King Sejong and Book Four of the Sallim gyeongje record it as a remedy for a suddenly protruding eyeball, for flies and maggots in wounds, for convulsions and for a placenta that is not delivered. The character 巳, the encyclopedia explains, means a flame that burns fiercely and moves with great force: the yang energy has reached its height, yin has vanished, and yang spreads in every direction to its utmost limit.

The Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms tells that Bak Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, rose to heaven after ruling for sixty-two years; within seven days of his death his body fell back to earth in pieces. When the people tried to bury them together, a great snake came after them and stopped them, so the body was buried in five parts, in five funerals, and the site was called Oreung, the "Five Tombs", or Sareung. Burying a body in several parts, the museum explains, was a prayer for an abundant year, and the snake appears as the creature that shares out abundance.

Silla vessels decorated with snakes carry the wish of the ancients to live forever: in them, the museum writes, the snake stands for regeneration after the winter sleep, resurrection after the shedding of the skin, and immortality through its powerful vitality.

The Snake, the Ox and the Rooster form one of the four harmonious triads (samhap, 삼합). The museum explains it from nature: the ox is not afraid of the snake's poison — the venom of a young snake even makes the ox's blood more vigorous — and the snake likes the rooster's crowing. The symbols encyclopedia adds the Monkey among the Snake's friends and names the Pig as the animal it clashes with.

The Dog is the Snake's wonjin (원진; 巳驚犬吠聲), the animal in conflict with it: "the snake is startled by the dog's bark". The dog's bark turns metallic and piercing in the mating season; though the snake has no eardrums, the museum says, the sound shocks it, its heart swells with heat, and a snake caught in the middle of shedding its skin cannot finish, and dies. Wonjin, the encyclopedia explains, means that the two feel affection for each other yet hate and resent each other too, and it weighs heavily in marriage compatibility.