Dream Analysis

“If you have a dream about teeth falling out, this means death.”

“If you have a dream about rotting teeth then it means sickness.”

“If you have a dream about weddings or a big poofy white gown, this means death.”

“Dreaming of death means long life.”

Subject’s Analysis:

Suzanne told me these beliefs while constantly smiling. She told me that she believed the superstitions to a certain extent, but that she didn’t think that they were ironclad, or scientific. She learned these superstitions around the house from her Belizean mother and father when she was coming up. She said that whenever she had a bad dream her family would encourage her to talk about it, and then make analyses of them. Most times it would mean nothing but she was told what the above dreams were connected to.

Collector’s Analysis:

I think that these dream analyses are merely superstition. They do not come as a surprise, especially because I have heard similar variations of the same notions in my own household (Jamaican/African). The trend that I did notice was that these dreams deal with a lot of things that mean opposites. For example, happy dreams of weddings and pretty dresses mean death, and morbid dreams of death mean life. In addition the superstitions have some basis in logic for example: teeth falling out are often a trait that older people exhibit and being old is often associated with death, so I can understand the connection.