What Does It Mean to Dream of a Coconut?
Whether you associate coconuts with health, religion, or vacation, these unusual fruits can grab your attention. If you see a coconut in your dream, the meaning may borrow from any of these common associations for coconuts.
Coconut Dream Summary
Coconut Dream Symbolism
Coconuts are fruits that are often mistaken for nuts. When they show up in your dream, this basic ambiguity about them can make them symbolic of mystery and things that are not always what they seem.
Coconuts may seem especially mysterious to you if you are from a part of the world where they are not common. You may therefore associate coconuts with the possibility of an exciting vacation.
If you are from a part of the world where coconuts are common, however, or if you have become passionate about coconuts through your pursuit of health matters, you know that coconuts are a source of abundant nourishment. Dreaming of coconuts can therefore symbolize that you have or soon will get all the resources you need.
Common Coconut Dreams
- Dream of eating a coconut
- Dream of breaking a coconut
- Dream of breaking a coconut with coconut water emphasized
- Dream of a coconut falling on you
- Dream of throwing a coconut
Coconut Dream Symbolism
Abundance
Experience Kerala notes that the Sanskrit word for coconut is “Kalpavriksha,” which means “Divine Tree.” Like cows provide humans with milk and much more, as discussed in cow dream symbolism, every part of a coconut tree is used by humans.
Dreaming of a coconut could therefore symbolize a situation where you have or soon will get all of the resources you need to meet your needs. It could also symbolize that you already have more than you think you do.
Religion
reports that breaking a coconut and placing it before God is a common Hindu practice marking occasions ranging from weddings to buying a new house or car. In this context, “The breaking of a coconut is symbolic of breaking one’s ego and humbling oneself before God.”
Rgyan also notes that human and animal sacrifices had been used in Hinduism in the past, but the ritual of breaking coconuts replaced that, as the hard, hairy shell of a coconut resembles a hard, hairy human skull.
If this practice of breaking coconuts is familiar to you, dreaming of breaking a coconut could symbolize that you are about to start an important new venture.
Ambiguity
Coconut has “nut” in the name, and coconuts resemble nuts with their hard shells. Many people therefore think of coconuts as nuts, but they are actually fruits.
The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology comments on the relevance of this ambiguity to people with tree nut allergies: “Coconut is not a botanical nut; it is classified as a fruit, even though the Food and Drug Administration recognizes coconut as a tree nut. While allergic reactions to coconut have been documented, most people who are allergic to tree nuts can safely eat coconut. If you are allergic to tree nuts, talk to your allergist before adding coconut to your diet.”
A dream of a coconut could therefore symbolize a situation where someone or something in your life is hard to classify. The person or circumstances in question might challenge your view of the world because they don’t fit into the way that you usually think about things.
Alternately, a coconut dream could play on the symbolism of the coconut having a hard exterior and soft innards. Maybe someone in your life seems gruff but is actually sweet once you get to know them.
Leisure
Some of the parts of the world where coconuts grow have strong tourism industries. If you live in an area where coconuts do not grow, and you associate coconuts with going on an exciting vacation to a place where coconuts do grow, dreaming of coconuts could symbolize that you need more leisure and relaxation in your life.
Of course, the meaning of any dream is dependent on the dreamer’s context. If you live in an area where coconuts are common and part of your normal routine, one of the other meanings might be more relevant to you.
Health
Coconuts and products made from coconuts, such as coconut water and coconut oil, are often found in the diet recommendations of health gurus. As always, this website does not give medical advice such as commenting on which diet is the best one.
Dreaming of a coconut could, however, symbolize that you are making an effort to change your diet to be healthier. Regardless of the details of the diet you are pursuing, just the serious intention to improve your health should count for something.
Common Coconut Dreams
Dream of eating a coconut
If eating a coconut is something you do regularly, dreaming of eating a coconut could symbolize that you are able to find nourishment in your routine life. If you eat coconuts so often that you are tired of them in your waking life, however, dreaming of eating a coconut could symbolize that you need stimulation and a break from your routine.
If eating a coconut is something that would be uncommon for you in waking life, dreaming of eating a coconut could symbolize that you need to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. If you thought the coconut was gross when you ate it in the dream, however, this could show that you feel like others in your life are pushing you to pursue change faster than you are comfortable with.
Dream of breaking a coconut
Any dream generally seeks to communicate with the dreamer in the dreamer’s own language. As noted previously, if the Hindu practice of breaking a coconut as a sacrifice before God is familiar to you, your dream could share the symbolism of that practice.
If you do not have experience with breaking a coconut in a religious context, however, your dream of breaking a coconut more likely has another interpretation. It could symbolize that you feel overwhelmed by some situation in your life that seems mysterious, but, once you start to take action, things will become clearer than they now appear.
Alternately, dreaming of breaking a coconut could symbolize an injury, especially a head injury, if the emotional atmosphere in the dream was negative.
Dream of breaking a coconut with coconut water emphasized
If your dream of breaking a coconut emphasizes a lot of water coming out of the coconut, as in this video, it could symbolize a situation where you or someone else in your life is beginning to release emotions that have been held back. This is similar to flood dream symbolism.
Alternately, a dream emphasizing coconut water trickling out of the coconut could show that you have a full bladder and need to urinate.
Dream of a coconut falling on you
If you dream of a coconut falling on you, this could symbolize that you feel attacked by the world around you. Typically you would have to be spending time under a coconut tree to have a coconut fall on you, so to have your relaxation interrupted in this way suggests that you have to be on your guard and cannot trust things to go right.
As coconuts provide abundant resources to humans, the attack coconut could symbolize that you feel let down by someone you had previously regarded as a nurturing person. There may be an element of feeling betrayed in this attack, where your pain is not simply whatever happened, but also that it was caused or allowed to happen by someone you trusted.
Physician Peter Barss, who worked in Papua New Guinea for seven years, wrote a paper on “Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts,” noting that many patients he treated for head injuries admitted they were napping under palm trees when they were injured. He concluded that many such injuries were preventable.
Your dream of a coconut falling on you could similarly push you to look at whether you have realistic expectations regarding danger in life. No matter how much it hurt, what did you think was going to happen when you went to sleep under a coconut tree?
Dream of throwing a coconut
Enemies throwing coconuts are featured in the Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong video games. A dream where you or another person throws coconuts could therefore symbolize conflict in your life that has a childish vibe, where people are being immature.
If you threw a coconut to defend yourself from someone who was attacking you in your dream, this could symbolize that you are able to find creative solutions to your problems in waking life.
Conclusion
Coconuts can be used for many purposes. Likewise, the interpretation of a coconut dream can go in many different directions.
As always, your dream is trying to speak to you in a language you understand, so the coconut associations that are the most familiar to you from your own background are probably those that are the most relevant to interpreting your dream.