Dream and Sanctuary in Traditional Armenian Christianity: Pilot Research Outcomes

Abstract

Ethnographic research on dreams, conducted in the frame of the phenomenological approach and drawn on the comparison of field data and previous studies, points to the existence of patterns related to an ancient tradition. Nowadays, approaching dreams as information on future events is characteristic of people who are religious yet rarely attending the church. According to the traditional classification of the true and the false dreams, dreams about sacral places belong to the former; therefore, people meticulously follow their recommendations. It is through the dreams that communication between the dreamer and the personified saint occurs advising the dreamer to excavate certain places, avoid touching sacral objects, make a pilgrimage, take the object of cult to a new place, etc. Some dreams help discovering historical artefacts. There are special sanctuaries in Armenia that relieve of bad dreams, and they are often connected with the image of Tukh Manook. In the special sanctuaries, incubation aimed at healing is practiced. Dreams experienced in the sanctuary are still regarded as sacral even after visiting it, and usually they imply the recovery from illness.