THE FOREBODING DREAM IN ROMANIAN FOLKLORE
THE FOREBODING DREAM IN ROMANIAN FOLKLORE

Summary/Abstract: The foreboding dream in Romanian folklore. This study analyses the premonitory dreams present in the Romanian folk creations, especially in the heroic epopees. The significations of these dreams are discussed within the wider context of the medieval and pre-modern Romanian popular culture, by comparison with a series of texts belonging to cultured literature. The analysis reveals the specific manner in which the popular mentality valorises dreams. On the one hand, dreams are invested with premonitory virtues and profound meanings, as in any traditional culture. On the other hand, in the analysed texts, one can notice a process of “taming”, of rationalising dreams, apparent from the appreciable dose of scepticism and mistrust concerning dreams’ premonitory value.

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