Year of Yılan
Meaning: snake
A short history
One of the years whose name has reached the present unchanged. As an animal that sheds its skin, it is an image of renewal and intuition in Turkish folk culture.
Cultural background
The name has come down almost unchanged; in Kazakh it is "zhylan". In folk tales the snake is an image of both danger and renewal, and its shedding of skin feeds the second meaning. In this symbolic reading the snake year is linked with the themes of intuition and patience.
Symbolic qualities
- deep
- intuitive
- calm
- discerning
Yılan describes the wisdom that observes without hurry and waits for the right moment. It speaks little and thinks a lot. Its shadow side is withdrawing and finding it hard to trust.
Things you might reflect on
- Is there an "old skin" that no longer fits you?
- On which matter might it help to wait a little instead of reacting at once?
- What does trust depend on for you?
Years it falls on
Each year begins on 21 March and ends on 20 March of the following year.
1905 · 1917 · 1929 · 1941 · 1953 · 1965 · 1977 · 1989 · 2001 · 2013 · 2025 · 2037 · 2049 · 2061 · 2073 · 2085 · 2097
Chinese counterpart: Snake →Where does the Turkic 12-animal calendar come from?
In the Divanu Lugati't-Türk, written in the 11th century, Mahmud of Kashgar explains that the Turks counted years by the names of twelve animals and lists them in order. The work also tells a story about the origin of the cycle: of the animals driven into the Ila (Ili) river before a ruler, the names of the twelve that crossed were given to the years.
An older witness is the Orkhon inscriptions (8th century). The Kül Tegin inscription dates his death to the "koń yıl" (year of the sheep, 731) and the Bilge Kagan inscription dates the kagan's death to the "it yıl" (year of the dog, 734). So animal year names were already used to give dates in that period.
The cycle follows the same order as the Chinese calendar and is a heritage shared with neighbouring cultures. Sources reckon the start of the year differently; this page takes Nevruz (21 March) as the start of the year.
- Kaşgarlı Mahmud, Divanu Lugati't-Türk (1072–1077).
- Kül Tegin yazıtı (732) ve Bilge Kağan yazıtı (735), Orhun Vadisi.
- Erkoç, H. İ., Divanü Lugati't-Türk'te Vahşi Hayvanlarla İlgili Kelimeler ve Terimler, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 23 (2015), 177-208.
- Karimova, G. ve Türkmen, F., Kazakistan'da Hayvan Kültü ve 12 Hayvanlı Halk Takvimi (2022).
The twelve animals
For entertainment and self-reflection. Year animals are presented as cultural history and character symbolism; they do not tell you what a year holds.
The images on this page were generated with AI.