Pheasant dream꿩꿈

The pheasant is the bird Korean hunters chased for centuries, and it’s easy to see why. The cock bird, called a 장끼 (jang-kki), is a show-off in copper, green and red with a long striped tail. The hen, a 까투리 (kka-tu-ri), is plainer. Both burst out of the grass with a heart-stopping racket.

In Korean dreams that burst of feathers is usually good news. Catching a pheasant is read as a gain, a pheasant flying into your room is read as romance, and one of Korea’s most famous taemong stories stars a pheasant. These are traditional readings, not predictions.

Why Korea likes seeing a pheasant

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture calls the pheasant one of the most familiar birds in Korean life, hunted, eaten and woven into proverbs and folktales. Two proverbs are still in daily use:

• 꿩 먹고 알 먹고, “eat the pheasant and its eggs too.” Two gains from one move, like “two birds with one stone.”
• 꿩 대신 닭, “a chicken instead of a pheasant.” Settling for the next best thing.

There is also an old folk belief, recorded in the same encyclopedia, that a pheasant flying into your garden brings good luck, and that finding pheasant eggs in a barley field means a good harvest. And there are the gratitude tales. In one widely told story, a pheasant (a magpie in other versions) that a traveler saved later rings a temple bell with its own head to save his life. It is the legend behind the name of Chiaksan (雉岳山), whose name means “pheasant mountain.”

So a pheasant arriving is luck, and a pheasant in hand is a prize. Dream readings build on both ideas.

What happened in your dream?

Catching a pheasant

This is the most searched pheasant dream, and it’s a good one. Korean dream dictionaries read catching a pheasant as a solid gain and an easier life. Pheasants are hard to catch, so you’ve earned it.

A pheasant in the room

This scene has a romantic reading. A pheasant flying indoors is read as meeting someone very attractive: a beautiful woman for a single man, a handsome, confident man for a single woman. It fits the folk belief about pheasants flying into the garden. Something lovely arrives without being invited.

Pheasant taemong

Korea’s best-known pheasant taemong belongs to former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. As told in a book about him and retold by dream columnist Hong Sun-rae, his mother dreamed she stalked a handsome cock pheasant, finally caught it, tied a string to its leg and brought it home, where it flew around every corner of the room. Hong read the cock pheasant as a sign of a boy, and the family later read the flying around the room as his diplomatic career crossing the world.

Dream dictionaries also list carrying a pheasant chick into the house as a pregnancy dream, sometimes told as a daughter who will grow up to do great things. Boy-or-girl readings like these are folklore, not fact.

Who dreamed it?

• Single: remember the pheasant-in-the-room dream.
• Working or studying: pheasant eggs are told as promotions and good ideas.
• Running a business: catching a pheasant, or a hunter with one on his belt, is read as money coming in.
• Expecting: a pheasant you catch and bring home, or a chick held close, is told as a taemong.

Korea and the West

Western dream guides rarely single out pheasants. Korean folklore is specific: a pheasant arriving is luck, a pheasant caught is a gain, and a pheasant lost is a lesson.

Questions people ask

Is a pheasant dream lucky in Korea? Usually. Catching one, finding eggs or seeing one fly in are good. Losing one you caught, or eating one, is the warning.

Is a pheasant dream a taemong? It can be. Ban Ki-moon’s taemong is the famous example.

Does a cock pheasant mean a boy? Some readers say so, but that’s folklore. A dream can’t tell you a baby’s sex.

Will my pheasant dream come true? These are traditional readings, not predictions. Enjoy the feathers.