Uni ja unenäod udmurdi kultuuris

Abstract

In Udmurt culture sleep (iz’on, kölon, um) as well as dreams (vöt, uyvöt) have occupied a significant place. According to ordinary understandings, dreams are not subjected to this world’s rules of time and space: in a dream, places and spaces may suddenly change, and time moves quickly, or it does not move at all; it has stopped. Sleep and dreams are not thoroughly explained phenomena, and as such, they play a significant role in the communication between the world of the living and the world of the deities (spirits). Their importance is confirmed by the rules one has to follow when going to bed. The dream becomes a sacred space, in which it is possible to acquire sacred knowledge and skills. The narratives we are acquainted with tell us that during sleep one of the person’s souls, called urt, can fly away. Probably this is the reason why it is forbidden to suddenly awake a person sleeping: they may not wake up at all or may even lose their reason. Earlier the Udmurt even organised special rituals to catch the second soul. In the Udmurt culture, sleep and dreams constitute a non-real space, in which the living and the dead are able to meet and communicate. The initiators of the dreams can be both the living and the dead, in different situations. Through dreams, the dead are able to transmit to the living their wishes, their knowledge about events or accidents to come; they may complain about certain circumstances, etc. Today, the Udmurt are attentive to all dreams; they see in them signs connected to the real world and given from above, and they must be considered in order not to disturb the balance between the worlds.

Keywords

• communication with the dead
• dreams
• rules of behaviour
• sleep
• udmurt