Animal Dreams of Korea

  1. Original Scrip: If you have a dream and there’s a cute baby animal it means you’re pregnant, and if you have a dream where there’s a snake in your home, it means that something bad is going to happen to your family, like a robbery.
  • She learned this from hearing her mom talk to her friends about their kids having children and just discussing general future telling omens.
  • The context of the performance was when I asked her to explain it to me again. I had remembered seeing a scene portray this on a Korean soap opera and so I asked her to clarify what that had meant.
  • I think, again, it’s interesting how large of a role animals play in Korean culture. In another piece I learned from this performer there was a reference to animals. Furthermore, there’s always an emphasis of innocence and positivity associated with baby animals, therefore it makes sense to me that a baby animal here would represent a happy situation such as pregnancy here. However, I do think it’s really interesting how the snake represents a negativity or bad omen. This primarily reminds me of the story “The Little Prince” in which there is a scene of a snake in grass which eventually was the demise of the main character. I would imagine it has a connection to the Christian concept of temptation being presented in the Garden of Eden by a snake. However, this is interesting because that would imply influence by a more Western religion, not Buddhism or Confucianism.