Russian people have always attached great importance to what they see in a dream. It was believed that thanks to prophetic dreams, a person receives information from the invisible world about the future or about events that are happening somewhere far away. When interpreting sleep, it was necessary to take into account age, marital status, and general life situation. One and the same dream could serve as a harbinger of both death and vice versa, the birth of a child or a wedding. It also mattered if the dream was dreamed on some big church holiday. Epiphany dreams on the night of January 19 were considered especially prophetic: they sometimes came true after a long time, so it was recommended to write them down. The girls specially gathered for a collective interpretation of Epiphany dreams.
Dreams were often used in folk art as an artistic device to emphasize the inevitability of future events. In the famous monument of ancient Russian literature "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" there is an episode where it is said about the prophetic dream of Prince Svyatoslav:
In distant Kiev, on the mountains, Svyatoslav had a vague dream, And great fear seized him, And he gathered the boyars according to the charter.
“From the evening to the present day, -
said the prince, drooping his head, -
On the yew bed they covered me with a
black shroud.
They scooped me blue wine, Bitter poisonous potion, Poured pearls on the canvas
From the quivers of the enemy's product.
My golden -domed tower stood
Without a horse, and, foreshadowing grief, The
enemy's raven in Plesensk screamed
And flew, rustling, on the blue sea.
The prince was saddened by this dream, each stroke foreshadowing disaster. A black veil and a crow's cry signify an impending misfortune, a tower without a horse means the death of someone from the family, pearls - tears, bitter, poisoned wine - sorrowful events. Svyatoslav's dream was prophetically justified - the Russian army was defeated.
Dreams with birds as a bad omen
The people believed that birds are the connecting element between the world of people and heaven. In some dreams, the bird was considered a herald of impending misfortune. As already mentioned, it was a bad omen to hear the croaking of a crow in a dream. This sign also extended to the cries of other birds heard in a dream, such as a cuckoo or a peacock. Chirping or chirping had a less ominous prospect: business failure. And the knock of a woodpecker, especially a black one, on the wall of the house was one of the darkest omens for the residents of this house.
The vision of a white dove foreshadowed the death of someone close. Killing birds was bad: such a dream served as a harbinger of a natural disaster or war.
Sleep with a white horse
Promotional video:
The interpretation of such a dream as a harbinger of death goes back thousands of years across the continent from India to Norway. The white horse everywhere symbolized the goddess of death, the mistress of the kingdom of the dead. Even their names are consonant: Indian Kali and Scandinavian Hel. Apparently, white horses in ancient times were buried alive as a sacrifice, in Scandinavia - back in the 17th century when a new cemetery was laid. Among the Slavs, the horse was one of the magical creatures, he was also considered a guide to the kingdom of the dead. When interpreting a dream about a horse, it was necessary to take into account the number of its legs: if the animal was three-legged, then it was she who was the messenger of death.
Sleep with teeth
Russian healers and sorceresses believed that it was through the teeth that a person was connected with the forces of the Earth. It was difficult to cure a toothless person: there was no resistance to health slander. The teeth that a person saw in a dream were considered an important signal from the other world. If they dreamed of falling out, one had to expect their own death or the death of someone from their acquaintances. If blood was seen on the fallen teeth in a dream, this was a harbinger of the death of a blood relative. This dream did not need to be given importance if the person really had problems with teeth or gums: in this case, the dream was simply an echo of anxiety.
Stitching feet
If the sleeper saw that he was walking on the surface in which his legs were stuck, this meant that the earth was calling him to itself. It could be long grass braiding around the ankles, viscous yellow or white sand, swamp or deep snow. If in a dream it was possible to break free and run away, then in reality one could count on getting rid of danger.
Trees
Dreams associated with trees have often been a harbinger of misfortune. It was dangerous to see trees felled by a storm or with dried leaves, burning trees. Any work in a dream with wood promised misfortune, since among the Slavs, the tree symbolized the person himself. It was considered a bad omen in a dream to cut a tree, carry out timber rafting, break branches, harvest firewood, saw boards, build a wooden house. Even shavings or sawdust was bad to see.
Green, healthy, flowering trees, on the contrary, portended good luck. The exception was a dream in which the flowers on the tree were white. They symbolized future sorrow.
Sleeping with wood did not have to be given a gloomy symbolic meaning if a person by profession was associated with its processing.
Galina Pogodina