The Year of the Snake has started, and the vibes are all about renewal and regeneration.
蛇年已经到来，到处都洋溢着新生与再生的气息。
Lunar New Year — which includes Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — begins on Jan. 29, kicking off more than two weeks of parties, customs and copious feasts.
包括中国春节、韩国春节（Seollal）、越南春节（Tet）等在内的农历新年于1月29日开始，拉开了长达两周多的派对、习俗和丰盛宴席的序幕。
The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, celebrates the arrival of spring and the start of a fresh year based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
这个节日也被称为春节， 是根据中国的阴阳历庆祝春天的到来和新的一年的开始。
Though the snake may get a bad rap across many Western cultures, the animal is actually a celebrated and revered sign across the Eastern hemisphere. And its year is expected to be one of positive transformation as people slither into new beginnings — if they're willing to move on.
虽然在许多西方文化中，蛇可能名声不佳，但在东半球，蛇却是一个备受推崇和尊敬的生肖。如果人们愿意向前看，那么蛇年预计将成为积极变革的一年，迎来新的开始。
It's all about "shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits," said Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University whose research focuses in part on Chinese folklore.
旧金山州立大学亚洲和亚裔研究教授乔纳森·H·X·李表示， 这关乎“摆脱个性和性格特征中的有毒因素”。他的研究部分聚焦于中国民间传说。
"It's shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost," Lee said. "This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible."
“这是摆脱自我、放下过去、放下愤怒、放下失去的爱，”李说， “今年是个人和宏观、内在和外在都能实现这种成长的一年。”
Lee said that the snake is an auspicious sign for inner work, whether it's releasing unrealistic expectations of loved ones or getting rid of bad habits.
李表示，蛇是内在修养的吉祥象征， 无论是放下对亲人的不切实际期望，还是改掉坏习惯。
The snake, which matches up with the years of people born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 and 2025, is most commonly associated with intelligence, resilience and love, Lee said. And people born in those years are thought to do "whatever it takes to accomplish a goal."
李说，蛇年出生的人（1941年、1953年、1965年、1977年、1989年、2001年、2013年和2025年） 通常与智慧、坚韧和爱联系在一起。人们认为这些年份出生的人会“不惜一切代价达成目标”。
"They are known to have this innate potential to be really successful, because they can think outside the box, and they will endure and they will persevere," Lee said.
“他们天生就有成功的潜力，因为他们能跳出常规思维， 他们会坚持，会不屈不挠，”李说。
More specifically, this year is that of the wood snake, with the wood element holding profound meaning across the three major organized Chinese religions. In Daoism, the wood is a sign of returning to one's natural state or true nature, while in Confucianism it symbolizes becoming a more polished person. In Buddhism, it's associated with letting go for growth.
更具体地说，今年是木蛇年， 木元素在中国三大主要宗教中具有深远意义。在道教中，木象征着回归自然状态或本真；在儒家思想中，它象征着成为一个更有修养的人；在佛教中，它与放下执念、促进成长相关联。
The positive qualities attached to the snake are anchored in two folklore tales, Lee explained. In the story of the creation of the Chinese zodiac, the snake was once a four-legged, happy creature who became angry after other animals isolated him because of his appearance. Blaming the Jade Emperor for creating him that way, the snake's anger morphed into physiological changes, like growing fangs, and prompted him to snap at the other creatures.
李解释说，与蛇相关的积极品质源于两个民间传说。在中国十二生肖起源的故事中，蛇曾经是一个四肢健全、 快乐的生物，但因为其他动物因为它的外表而孤立它，它变得愤怒起来。蛇责怪玉帝（Jade Emperor）把它创造成这样，它的愤怒转变成了生理变化，比如长出了毒牙， 并促使它攻击其他生物。
Word reached the Jade Emperor, who punished him by taking away his legs. The heavenly ruler promised that if the snake won a race competition against the other animals, which would eventually dictate the order of the zodiac, the snake could win a prize and potentially get his legs back.
玉帝得知此事后，惩罚它剥夺了它的腿。玉帝承诺，如果蛇在与其他动物的赛跑比赛中获胜， 这场比赛将最终决定十二生肖的顺序，那么蛇就可以赢得奖品，并有可能找回它的腿。
Though the snake didn't win, he placed sixth, impressing the emperor with his perseverance and dedication. The ruler made him one of the 12 animals of the zodiac. The race changed the snake's path in other ways, too.
虽然蛇没有获胜，但它取得了第六名，它的毅力和奉献精神给玉帝留下了深刻印象。玉帝让它成为十二生肖之一。这场比赛也以其他方式改变了蛇的命运。
"He learned how to control that anger. But because that anger was a part of him for so long, he had the yearning to go out and harm and bite," Lee said. "When that happened, he would stay isolated and … he would grow out of his old skin in order to let go of that past."
“它学会了如何控制愤怒。但因为愤怒曾是它的一部分那么久，它有了出去伤害和咬人的渴望，”李说， “当它这样做的时候，它会把自己孤立起来……它会蜕去旧皮，以放下过去。”
The snake is also associated with love.
蛇也与爱情有关。
In one retelling of the "Legend of the White Snake," one of China's four main great folktales, an immortal white snake, disguised as a maiden, falls in love with a man. The man dies upon discovering her true identity, which prompts her to steal from the tree of immortality in an attempt to revive him. But when she is caught in the act by an emperor who guarded the mystical tree, she explains that her love for the man spans thousands of years because he had saved her life in the past.
在中国四大民间传说之一的《白蛇传》的一个版本中，一条不死的白蛇伪装成少女， 爱上了一个男人。这个男人在发现她的真实身份后死去，这促使她从长生树上偷东西来试图救活他。但是，当她被守护神秘之树的一位皇帝当场抓住时， 她解释说，她对那个男人的爱跨越了千年，因为那个男人在过去救过她的命。
"They had this cosmic connection lifetime after lifetime," Lee said.
“他们有着生生世世的缘分，”李说。
The emperor was so moved by the love story that he encouraged her to go save her husband.
皇帝被这个爱情故事深深打动，鼓励她去救她的丈夫。
"For people that grow up in this kind of cultural landscape with these types of stories and folklore, the snake is a representation of love," Lee said.
“对于在这种有着这类故事和民间传说的文化环境中成长的人来说，蛇是爱情的象征，” 李说。
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