Shedding Skin: The Year of the Snake
Daoist priest holding Zodiac Snake, China, Song dynasty (960–1279)
At COUPAR, we celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year; this year marks the "Year of the Wood Snake." The enigmatic serpent, symbolizing the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, is one of twelve astrological animals the mythic Jade Emperor, who ruled the Heavens, selected to guard him. While the West feared snakes, Ancient Chinese culture revered the reptiles as "little dragons." In Chinese mythology, Fuxi and Nüwa, the first man and woman, possessed human heads and torsos, terminating in intertwined snake tails representing Yin and Yang. They created the human race by molding people from clay.
Hygeia, Gustav Klimt, Vienna, 1900
Western culture associates snakes with evil, temptation, and healing. The serpent was a metaphor for Satan and Eve's temptation. But it also symbolized Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine who carried a staff entwined with the reptile. The snake rejuvenates by shedding its skin, representing health, sickness, life and death. Austrian artist Gustave Klimt (1862 – 1918) painted Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, as a part of a ceiling mural "Medicine" for the University of Vienna. A gilded snake embraces the goddess's arm. Sadly, during WWII, retreating SS troops burnt the building housing the artwork.
The Legend of Lady White Snake, Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri, 2015
The 2015 short film The Legend of Lady White Snake: A Tribute to the Spirit of Alexander McQueen combines Eastern and Western beliefs about the serpent. Using fashion, photography, and poetry, Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri directed McQueen's muse, Daphne Guinness, in retelling the Chinese folktale about a snake spirit transformed into a woman. The legend dates back to China's Tang and Five Dynasties, around the 7th to 10th centuries. In the story, the serpent shape shifts to experience human love. It is fitting that the film honors McQueen's memory, a brilliant designer who explored metamorphosis through fashion.
How will you transform in 2025?
