Many modern people treat omens in a completely different way from their distant ancestors, considering all superstitions to be stupid prejudices and anti-scientific heresy. However, this fact does not prevent older people from scaring young people with 'horror stories' about black cats, broken mirrors and empty buckets.
Some of the old people remember the omen that says that you cannot sleep at sunset without really explaining where this superstition came from.
The change of day and night is a struggle between good and evil, light and shadow, life and death
Why can't you sleep at sunset?
Different peoples of the world have their own interpretation of the signs about the prohibition of sleep at sunset, but they all agree: a dream, at the moment when the sun goes down, is dangerous for both the soul and the body.
- From the legends left by the Kazakhs, it followed that the change of day and night is a struggle between good and evil, light and shadow, life and death. The latter always won an unequal battle, and darkness fell. To go to bed at the moment when the sun goes down meant to bring his death closer.
- In the teachings of Christians, Muslims and pagans, sunrise was a sign of life, sunset, respectively, death. At that moment, when the sun sets, all funeral rituals were completed, and the souls of the deceased were in a hurry to leave for another world, so as not to get lost in the dark. It was when the sun's disk touched the horizon that unseated souls could harm the sleeping ones.
- The ancient Slavs did not differ in their conclusions from other peoples, they believed that sleep at sunset causes fever and shortens life.
- The Indian Vedas say something like this: the earlier a person wakes up, the more he receives solar energy. Those who like to take a nap longer receive less energy, and those who like to fall asleep during the day or at the time of sunset receive a solid negative from the star. Apart from this, Ayurveda laws warn to sleep at sunset to poverty.
- In Orthodoxy, sleep before dusk foreshadows an early death or a lingering, poorly treatable illness.
- People of many nationalities believe that sleeping at sunset is dangerous, since the energy leaves the human body too quickly, and the luminary, descending beyond the horizon, takes away the last strength from a person.
Sleeping at sunset is dangerous as energy leaves the human body too quickly
Astrologers' explanation
Astrologers have an equally interesting explanation:
- Soothsayers compare the head of a person with the solar disk and all living things that exist on the planet. A free interpretation is as follows: the human body receives nutrition and energy from the head, and all living things are fed by the energy of the sun, that is, if a person is asleep, while the luminary is awake, the sun takes away his vitality.
- Sunset is just the time when the brain does not give life-giving energy to the body, but on the contrary, dries up the energy channels. The vital activity of the brain, as you know, during sleep remains practically unchanged, which means only one thing: instead of the desired vigor after rest, the physical body of a person weakens even more.
Sunset is just the time when the brain does not give life-giving energy to the body, but, on the contrary, dries up energy channels
A little bit of mythology
A fairly intelligible explanation of the signs can be found in mythology. Ancient texts say: as soon as the sun begins to decline, an unclean force gathers around a person – demons, evil spirits, not resting souls and other evil spirits. If a person is sleeping at this time, then he is most vulnerable to their negative influence.
Demons and spirits, in turn, are just waiting for the right moment to harm a person, his soul and his body.
Even ancient philosophers warned that sleeping at a time when the sun is setting down is dangerous for a person both physically and spiritually. The ancients believed that at this hour demons and dark beings rise to Earth from the lower worlds. If a person is in a state of sleep or drowsiness, his soul is defenseless, which means it is easier for evil forces to penetrate and take possession of the mind, soul or body of a sleeping person.
If you believe the myths of Ancient Egypt, at a time when the sun recedes to sleep, the sun god Ra makes his way in the direction where the kingdom of the dead is located, that is, to the west. The Egyptians sacredly believed that while Ra opens the doors of the gate, dark entities can slip to the ground, so you cannot sleep at this moment, otherwise a person will not be able to provide a worthy rebuff to evil forces and protect himself.
The first mention of the danger of sleeping at sunset is found even in the Holy Scriptures. The literal interpretation of the text says, “that at sunset not only the colors of life can fade, but sleep can shorten life.”
Believe in such a superstition or consider it a stupid prejudice, everyone decides for himself, but isn't it easier to wait half an hour or an hour and rid your body and soul of unnecessary trials?
