Dreaming about an umbrella: what this dream usually reflects

What this dream usually points to (and what it doesn't)

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme.

Dreaming about an umbrella does not predict trouble, loss or luck. The scene usually tracks how ready you feel for what is coming: an umbrella that fails fits stretches of surprise and uncertainty, while one that keeps you dry fits moments of support. Often it is just the echo of a rainy day, or of rain falling outside while you sleep.

Read also: Dreaming about rain or floods and Dreaming about a hat.

What dream studies show

Research on the continuity between waking and dreaming, reviewed by Michael Schredl in 2003, shows that dreams tend to reuse what we live through while awake, small details included. Running from a downpour, hunting for an umbrella before work or checking the forecast may be enough for the object to turn up at night.

The bedroom matters too. In 1958, William Dement and Edward Wolpert showed that outside stimuli, such as sounds and drops of water on the skin, can be woven into a dream. Rain drumming on the roof is a good candidate to become, in the night's story, a wet street and an open umbrella.

Sources: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Dement and Wolpert, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1958.

Common variations of dreaming about an umbrella

If the strong wind and thunder stood out most, see also dreaming about storms or lightning.

When the dream deserves professional attention

An umbrella dream is rarely a reason for concern. If it turns into a recurring nightmare (storms, flooded streets, a sense of being unprotected) and you wake up scared several times a week, talk to a health professional: frequent nightmares are treatable. See how to have fewer nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

What dream books say

The Brazilian dream book O Livro dos Sonhos, by L. P. Baçan, sums up the umbrella in two simple ideas: in life, hope; in love, protection. The reading keeps the comforting side of the object, the one that holds off the rain until it passes.

Man and His Symbols, the book Jung edited, points to the limit of such lists: dreams are individual events, and their symbols cannot be cataloged. The umbrella of someone who left theirs on the bus that afternoon is not the same as the one belonging to someone who keeps a grandfather's old umbrella.

Sources: Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Psychoanalysis, symbols and faith: another look at dreaming about an umbrella

In Freud's psychoanalysis. The first chapter of The Interpretation of Dreams gathers accounts of noises, cold and discomfort that slip into dreams, like an alarm clock that turns into church bells. Rain against the window can take the same route. Freud went beyond the stimulus, though: he asked what each part of the scene (the color, the place, who was nearby) brought to the dreamer's mind.

In Jung's psychology. In Man and His Symbols, Joseph Henderson lists, among dreams tied to the hero's test of strength, one about a man on a trip to India without a rain hat. Facing the weather with no cover appears there as a test of endurance. The same book notes that in many myths rain was seen as a loving union of sky and earth, one that eases tension and makes the soil fertile.

In symbols and faith. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant explain that the umbrella only reached Europe in the 17th century, and they link it to shade, withdrawal and protection. The parasol, by contrast, is a royal emblem and a symbol of the sky across Asia. As the authors put it, a person stands tall under a parasol but stoops under an umbrella. In the Bible, Psalm 91:1 speaks of one who rests "under the shadow of the Almighty."

Bringing both views together. Science shows how rain and the day's events get into the dream. Traditions offer a question to carry through the day: what do you need shelter from right now, and from whom are you willing to accept it?

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols.

Popular beliefs about this dream

In folk readings, an open umbrella often stands for protection and caution; a broken or flipped one, for passing difficulties; a lost one, for carelessness or a missed chance; and a shared one, for friendship and companionship. These are cultural readings, good for reflection, not predictions. See what dreams mean according to science and culture.