Dreaming about Christmas or New Year: dinner, gifts and midnight

What dreaming about Christmas or New Year's Eve usually points to

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

Dreaming about Christmas or New Year is not a prediction of a party, of plenty or of good or bad news. These holidays tend to show up in dreams when a person is thinking about reunions, about family, about those who are far away or have passed on, or when they are taking stock of their own life: what went well and what needs to change.

Christmas tends to bring up the theme of family and childhood; New Year, the theme of fresh starts and promises.

Read also: Dreaming about a party and Dreaming about family.

Why the year-end holidays make their way into dreams

The continuity hypothesis of Schredl and Hofmann (2003) helps explain it: dreams reuse what is on your mind. In November and December, the holidays are everywhere: shop windows, commercials, the gift list, working out who will host Christmas Eve dinner.

These dates also bring together the people who matter. In a 2014 study, Dylan Selterman and colleagues followed people in relationships and found that dreams about their partner, such as scenes of jealousy, colored their mood and behavior the next day. A dream about a family holiday dinner may work in a similar way: a dreamed-of reunion leaves behind longing, relief or a discomfort that lingers through the morning.

Sources: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Selterman and colleagues, Dreaming of You, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2014.

Common scenes: dinner, the tree, Santa Claus and fireworks

If the dream revolved around the wrapped presents, see dreaming about a gift; if it was about meeting someone who has passed away, dreaming about someone who died.

See also: Dreaming about a broken tooth and Dreaming about Halloween.

When a year-end dream weighs heavy

The end of the year is a celebration for many people and a hard time for others. It is common for longing for someone who died, a recent breakup or distance from family to show up more strongly in dreams at this time of year. If the dreams turn into recurring nightmares or if the sadness does not go away, see a health professional; frequent nightmares can be treated. In moments of intense distress, reach out: in the US, you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). See also how to have fewer nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

Christmas and New Year in dream books

O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book by L. P. Baçan, has no entry for Christmas or New Year. The closest ones are the entry for party, read as tranquility in life and happiness in love, and the one for turkey, the classic holiday dish, linked to plenty in life and closeness in love.

Freud called this kind of reading the decoding method, which swaps each image for another according to a fixed code. For him, the code leaves out the main thing: the memories of the person who had the dream.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Freud, Jung and faith before the holidays of reunion

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud tells us that he had his famous dream of Irma's injection a few days before his wife's birthday, when she was expecting to receive friends, and the dream was already set at that gathering. He also recorded children's dreams that fulfilled simple wishes, like his young daughter who, after a day without eating, talked in her sleep about strawberries and pudding. Along these lines, holidays are fertile ground for wishes to gather, to eat, to receive and to be remembered.

In Jung's psychology. Jung wrote an essay on the child archetype, in which the divine child appears in myths as a promise of future and renewal. The Child in the manger can be read in this key, as can the wish for a fresh start that the turn of the year awakens. Man and His Symbols also deals with rites of passage, which mark the end of one phase of life.

In symbols and faith. For Christians, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, told in the Gospels with the manger, the shepherds and the star that guided the wise men (Luke 2 and Matthew 2); see dreaming about Jesus. A Dictionary of Symbols links the tree to the axis between earth and sky. In Brazil, New Year's Eve also bears the mark of Afro-Brazilian religions such as umbanda and candomblé: the white clothes, the flowers thrown into the sea and the jumps over the waves are tied to the offerings to Iemanjá, the orixá (deity) of the sea. These are beliefs of the traditions, told with respect.

Bringing both readings together. When you wake up, it is worth asking who was at the table, who was missing and what you wished for when the fireworks went off.

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

What folk tradition says about these dreams

In Brazilian folk reading, dreaming about Christmas is usually a sign of unity and peace at home, and dreaming about New Year, of news and fresh starts. A lavish holiday dinner would mean a time of abundance; an empty table, a call to look after your bonds. Getting a present from Santa Claus would be a wish granted; colorful fireworks, good news. At the turn of the year, the tradition of colors also shows up in dreams: white for peace, yellow for prosperity, red for love. These are customs and beliefs, not predictions. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.