The Snake and the Dragon

If you are running around the internet exploring you will sometimes come across things which can be a little startling.

Did you know that the literal translation from the Chinese for what we call a faucet or a tap is "mouth of the water dragon." By the way, I am not saying that if you walk up to a native Mandarin speaker that they will be aware of this. I confirmed it with a Mandarin speaker of my acquaintance who is also an English teacher. So she can think in both languages and she can use simplified as well as traditional Chinese and pinyin of course. So she could navigate the questions I was asking and admit that a literal translation of the Chinese for faucet or tap would have some water dragon in there.

Dragon's so permeate Chinese culture that they sometimes go if not unnoticed at unremarked upon by native speakers. It might be little like if someone asked you where does a common English colloquial expression come from, such as "cash cow" or "pipe dream." There is much in English that we use without knowing exactly where it came from.

As we close out the 2012 the Year of the Dragon and on Feb 10, 2013 enter the Year of the Snake, it is interesting that dragon and snake bear within themselves concepts like yang and yin. Which is to say polar opposite energies which need to be in harmony in order for a human to be in harmony. There is for instance a Chinese medicinal herb preparation which is sometimes called "The Snake and the Dragon." It is supposed to help regain that yin yang balance in the lower body.

When it comes to love life people born under the dragon and those born under the snake are thought to be compatible because opposite attract. The fiery dragon and the cool, calm and collected snake balance out each others extremes.