Title: Dreaming About Toddlers/ Children and the Elderly
General Information about Item:
- Genre and Sub Genre
- Verbal folklore: Good luck/ bad luck superstition
- Language: English
- Country where Item is from: China
Informant Data:
- The informant is a sophomore at Dartmouth College studying Economics and History. She is from Kansas, but her parents were first generation immigrants from China and she considers her cultural upbringing to be reflective of the Chinese culture.
Contextual Data:
- Social Context: The informant learned about this good luck/ bad luck superstition from her parents. Every time her parents would relate a dream that involved young children to her, they would tell her that it was a dream that would lead to bad luck. They would then stop talking about it and end the conversation there.
- Cultural Context: In Chinese culture, it is not natural to dream about children, for if a child appears in a dream, he/ she is considered a demon child. On the other hand, a dream about old people signifies good luck because they are wise and are at the end of their life. Longevity in Chinese culture is good.
Item:
- Dreaming about toddlers/ children up to around age 6 is considered very bad luck. In converse, dreaming about old people is considered good luck
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript of Associated File:
Informant’s Comments:
- The informant’s parents always thought something bad was going to happen to them: either an injury or something bad at work after having such dreams involving young children.
Collector’s Comments:
- This piece of folklore is particularly interesting for it indicates that good luck/ bad luck superstitions can come from a wide variety of places, even dreams. In this sense, dreams are seen to foreshadow future events.
Collector’s Name: Leo Lei
Tags/Keywords:
- good/bad/luck/superstition/babies/toddlers/children/elderly/grandpa/grandma/demon/wise/longevity/misfortune