Abstract
The article analyzes Udmurt traditional beliefs and rules that regulate human behavior before going to bed, during a sleep and after waking up. The regulations are shaped by the perception of a sleep as the liminal state and as a surprising combination of space and time in which boundaries between this world and the other world are blurred. Compliance with the regulations is supposed to guarantee safety: it can protect the sleeper from the lurking danger during and after a sleep, or in case if the dream foreshadows the upcoming negative changes in life. The main apotropaic measures used before going to bed and after waking from sleep are an appeal to God, warding off a bad dream by water or spitting on excreta, hiding / placing the sleeper in a safe space, creating a barrier, and propitiating the dead. Some rules are aimed at preventing or regulating communication between the living and the dead in dreams, while others, on the contrary, simulate meeting and communicating with the deceased in a dream. It has been revealed that some sleep-related traditional beliefs and prohibitions have disappeared so far - the information about them can only be found in archival and published materials nowadays, while others continue to actively exist, undergoing certain transformations caused primarily by the influence of Christian views.
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