What Does It Mean to Dream of a Penguin?
Penguins are cute creatures often depicted as friendly, so you might feel lucky to see one in your dream. As penguins are known for their devotion to their families and communities, a penguin dream can show you how you connect with the people in your life.
Penguin Dream Summary
Penguin Dream Symbolism
Penguins are flightless birds that live mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Instead of wings, they have flippers that propel them underwater.
Penguins have little natural fear of humans and have been known to waddle directly up to human visitors, as reported by PBS. Penguins generally have a positive reputation, so a dream of penguins probably does not mean anything that bad.
Penguins are known for their devotion to their chicks, so a penguin dream could symbolize your commitment to providing for your family. However, the BBC notes that penguins are not always as cute and cuddly as they appear – they kidnap each other’s young and get a little wild in their relationships. A penguin dream may therefore symbolize the tension between an idealized vision of family life and how you make things work in the messy realm of reality.
Common Penguin Dreams
- Dream of a penguin approaching you
- Dream of feeding a penguin
- Dream of a penguin attacking you
Penguin Dream Symbolism
Cold
Not all penguins live in cold climates, but media portrayals often emphasize those that do. Dreaming of a penguin could therefore symbolize that something in your life is cold, either physically or emotionally.
The penguins that live in the coldest climates, however, are threatened by climate change, as reported by WWF. A dream of penguins could therefore symbolize your concerns about climate change, if this is an issue you follow closely.
Formal Wear
The color pattern of a penguin’s feathers is often described as a tuxedo as it resembles men’s formal wear – black on the outside, white on the inside. Blog 10,000 Birds notes that this helps penguins hide from predators.
Dreams love puns, though, so a dream of penguins could symbolize that an event requiring formal wear, like a prom or a wedding, has been on your mind lately. You might feel that the talk of the big event has gotten too serious, as you feel a little goofy getting all dressed up.
Family Commitment
The documentary March of the Penguins famously depicted penguin couples working together to care for their young. Though most penguin couples only last for the duration of the breeding season, the movie showed that these birds must collaborate to an impressive degree to keep their eggs warm while going back and forth to the ocean to get food.
A dream of penguins could therefore symbolize that you are working hard to take care of your family. The commitment symbolized by a penguin dream may come in many forms, as the children’s book And Tango Makes Three tells the true story of two male penguins raising a baby penguin together at the Central Park Zoo in New York.
Community
Penguins are social creatures who give their mates gifts and bury their dead, according to Natience. They also sleep in groups for protection from predators.
A penguin dream can therefore symbolize your obligations to your community. While you may at times get annoyed with the rituals of social life, you can see beyond the frustrations of the moment to acknowledge that you must put in the effort to maintain an ongoing commitment to others so that they will be there when you need them.
Common Penguin Dreams
Dream of a penguin approaching you
If you dream of a penguin approaching you, this could symbolize that someone who is basically innocent and trusting has appeared in your life. You may need to make a special effort to treat this person fairly without taking advantage of them, as there is a power imbalance in the relationship that would make them unlikely to push back against you if you were out of line. If you can successfully navigate the challenges of this relationship, though, this person may bless you with their unique gifts.
Dream of feeding a penguin
Penguins are capable of going to great effort if necessary to feed themselves, as depicted in March of the Penguins. If you dream that you are feeding a penguin, though, this could symbolize that you are working to develop relationships with the people around you. Even if such relationships are not strictly necessary for either party’s survival, they might make your life more fulfilling.
Dream of a penguin attacking you
If you dreamed of a penguin attacking you, what did you do to provoke the penguin? Penguins are generally not aggressive toward humans on their own, but they are protective of their young. A dream of a penguin attacking you could therefore symbolize that you are trespassing on someone else’s boundaries, especially in regards to their children.
Conclusion
Penguins are social creatures, both with each other and with humans. A penguin dream can therefore symbolize the ups and downs of your social life.
In your relationships, it can be hard to know where the line is between frustrations that will pass and a situation that is just not working. A penguin dream might tend to come down on the side that, even if your family and friends drive you crazy sometimes, you need to make an effort to keep people in your life.
Penguins, however, get a little wild when they need to. The type of commitment signified by a penguin dream may be a strong one, but it might also be a messy one. Allowing more complexity and frivolity into your relationships, however, may be just what it takes to make them last.