A FOLKLORE OF KOREA'S PIG DREAMS AND THEIR FUTURE


By Jae Ui Shin, Richard Gallerno and Terry Stocker  

The Peddie School, Hightstown, N.J.
Guangdong Lingnan Institute of Technology, Guangzhou, P.R. China
Chungwoon University, Hongseong, ROK  

ABSTRACT

Virtually every Korean knows a pig dream is auspicious. Most individuals having the dream purchase a lottery ticket the next day. However, data reveal that this is consistently met with negative results. This study concerns how the dream is learned and why the folklore of its luck-factor persists since it is rarely validated. The dream is learned via word of mouth. Currently, there are no books or movies that mention it. Its persistence fits into certain theories of cognitive science. The future of the dream seems to be well intact since specific incidents are now reported on the Internet. A comparison to Western animal dreams is provided. Finally, this study has implications for anthropologists and archaeologists in analyzing past cultures since it demonstrates that dream content can be culturally dictated, manipulated and controlled via a verbal process (not written). This could have implications for understanding the formation and control of religious ideas.


KEY WORDS: dreams, pigs, Korea, modernization, cognition,