Dream Mythology: Sandman

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

There are quite a lot of mythologies about dreams and nightmares, though other than a select few, dream mythology, I find, is not the most talked mythology. Well, other than a few select ones. So, for some of my posts, especially while my wrists are still suffering and needing bracing more often than not, I thought I would discuss some mythologies about dreams that I both found interesting, or helped to inspire the story behind Dreamwalkers.

To help to start our mythology journey, I thought we'll start of with one of the most well known dream related mythology. We'll be going into some more obscure ones as we go along.

So, as you will probably know by now, one of the most well known mythologies or folktales about dreams or nightmares comes in the form of the Sandman.

So, other than the character that has that name on the film 'Rise of the Guardians', what is the mythology of the Sandman?

Well, the Sandman originates from Scandinavian folklore, where the sandman, by scattering a fine, magic sand into the eyes, will grant good dreams to children. It was thought that the sleep grit (scientifically referred to as Rheum) that one sometimes get after waking is actually the residue of the Sandman's sand from that night.

As mentioned, if one has watched Rise of the Guardians, 'Sandy', of course, is based on this mythology.

There have been other characters and folklores made that have referenced the Sandman, or have adapted it in some way. In 1841, a folktale was written by Hans Christian Anderson called 'Ole Lukøje', which told the tale of a Sandman like figure of the same name, who would visit children and, for good children, would spread a magical umbrella over them, which has pictures on the inside. These pictures would give the good children wonderful dreams. To bad children, he would spread a second umbrella, which had no pictures on the inside, and those children would sleep heavily, experiencing no dreams. In that tale, it is discovered that he is a dream god and the brother to Death, who is also known as Ole Lukøje. The Death version closes the eyes of those he visits to take them away.

Likewise, the Scottish nursery rhyme of Wee Willie Winkie also appears to be about the personification of sleep, though he doesn't use sand, it seems that his 'job' is also similar in nature to the Sandman.

Though there have been other personifications of sleep in other mythologies as well, but to list them all here might take too long. lol

The Sandman has been used in....well, less nice ways as well. In the story Derr Sandmann, written by E.T.A Hoffmann in 1816, the sandman depicted there is a much more sinister figure, who throw sand into children's faces, steal their eyes to feed them to his own children. This story, and its description of the sandman here, has been referenced in other stories over the years as well.

Romanian mythology has a character similar to this known as Mos Ene, or (Which translates to Ene the Elder.)

For the most part, however, the depictions of the Sandman is that he is a benevolent figure, granting good dreams to children.

In Dreamwalkers, there is no true comparison to the Sandman. However, there is a character who can put people to sleep, so is veeeeeery loosely based around this figure.

Next time, I'll be looking at other mythologies who might be considered somewhat more obscure. You might even see them in the story, or have references towards them. I hope you guys look forwards to it!

Til next time!

Tara