Emotions as an object of interpretation in the Slavic prophetic dream narratives

Abstract

The article is devoted to the folk tradition of dream interpretation in the eastern Slavic culture. Emotions, appearing during dreaming, are one of the objects of interpretation, for example «happiness in dream means misfortune», or «be crying in the dream predicts happiness». Such researchers, as N. I. Tolstoy, S. Niebzegowska and others, who studied oral dream book, paid no particular attention to the interpretation of emotions, because their main interest was about symbolic of visual images of dreams. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the Poltava region, the author examines traditional patterns of interpretation emotional-laden dreams. These narratives can be divided into two groups: 1) the dream tales in which feelings meant opposite: «happiness in dream means misfortune», «be crying in the dream predicts happiness», 2) the narratives in which emotions were interpreted literally (unpleasant feelings meant unpleasant events in life, for example — the sense of shame in a dream predicted dishonor). Comparing these two groups we can make a conclusion, that the first case is not exclusively about emotion themselves: in the first place were interpreted the actions aimed at the expression of emotions (laugh, crying, dancing and so on). The dreams, which were interpreted literally, had been related to the notion of disturbing dreams. The dreams causing unpleasant emotions (anxiety, perplexity, fear, dissatisfaction, aversion) were interpreted by the respondents as a «bad dreams», even though the dream plot predicted something favorable according to the oral dream book and opinions of other interlocutors (during the group interview). The negative emotions experienced in the dream influence on its interpretation, because a dreamer tends to pay attention on the «negative» images (from the traditional point of view) and ignore «auspicious» signs.