Dreaming about
bananas

Bananas are one of the most ordinary foods there are, the fruit you grab on the way out the door, and also one of the most joked about. Dreaming about bananas usually points to one of three things that come with that: simple comfort and energy, sexual desire, or timing, since a banana turns from green to brown in a matter of days. And because of the peel, banana dreams can also be about slipping up in front of people.

A banana tree heavy with fruit, a bowl of blackened bananas, a banana eaten alone in the kitchen and one you slipped on in a crowd are four quite different dreams. Which one you had, and anything you've been putting off (or anyone you've been thinking about more than you'd admit), will narrow it down.

What dreaming about bananas means

Bananas are unusual among fruits. They ripen fast, they're shaped like nothing else in the fruit bowl, and they come with a peel that has been a comedy prop for a hundred years. Each of those gives you a reading.

Comfort and energy

Bananas are a go-to food for athletes, toddlers and anyone in a hurry, so in a dream they can stand for everyday fuel, the small things that keep you going. Eating a banana with pleasure can mean you're looking after yourself well. Being hungry for one, or finding the bowl empty, can be about running on empty and needing a top-up of rest or support.

Desire

The banana's shape makes it the obvious stand-in for a penis, and dreams do use it that way sometimes. Freud's list of male symbols (more on that below) starts with long objects. If the dream was sensual or embarrassing, it may be about attraction, or about sex on your mind more than usual.

Timing

Bananas go from green to yellow to spotted to black faster than most fruit, so they're good at showing timing in a dream. A perfectly ripe banana points to something that's ready now, like a relationship, a plan or a decision. Bananas going brown point to something that's been left a bit too long.

Dreaming about eating a banana

Eating a banana is the most common banana dream, and it's usually a comfortable one, about looking after yourself or enjoying something simple. If you ate it in public and felt self-conscious, the sexual reading may be stronger, or the dream may be about worrying how others see you. Sharing a banana with someone can be about closeness, or about desire if the feeling was flirtatious.

Dreaming about a banana tree

A banana "tree" is really a giant herb, and each stem fruits only once before it dies, while new shoots come up from the same root to take its place. That makes the banana tree a good picture of renewal. Dreaming of one heavy with fruit can be about abundance, a time when effort is paying off. A banana tree in a jungle or a garden far from home can also be about travel, warmth or a wish to escape somewhere easier.

Dreaming about rotten bananas

Brown, mushy or blackened bananas are about something left too long. That might be a chance you didn't take, a conversation you kept putting off, or a feeling you've let go sour. If you threw them out, the dream may be about letting go of what's past its best. If you used them anyway, banana bread style, it's about making something good out of what's left.

Dreaming about slipping on a banana peel

Slipping on a banana skin is the oldest gag in slapstick, and in dreams it's about a public blunder. It often comes before an important event where you're afraid of making a fool of yourself, like a presentation, a first date or a new job. In British English a "banana skin" is a political embarrassment waiting to happen. If you laughed when you fell, the dream may be telling you that the mistake you fear is smaller than you think.

Dreaming about green bananas

Unripe green bananas are about patience. Something in your life isn't ready yet, and the dream may be telling you that waiting is the right move. If you were frustrated by them, ask what you're trying to rush, whether that's a promotion, a pregnancy, a relationship or a project still in the early stages.

Bananas in idioms

English has a few banana phrases a dream might be acting out. "Going bananas" is losing your temper or your mind, the "top banana" is the boss and the "second banana" is the sidekick who never gets the credit. Monkeys and bananas often appear together in dreams, and that pairing can be about mischief, appetite or simply something you saw that day.^[2]

Dreaming about bananas according to Jung and Freud

Freud's list of male symbols is why most people suspect a banana, and Jung has a candidate for the peel.

Jung on the banana peel

Jung named the trickster among the archetypes, a figure who turns up as a clown, a fool or a shape-shifter.^[3] The banana skin is the clown's oldest prop, so a dream of slipping on one reads, in his terms, as a visit from the trickster, the part of you that arranges a pratfall just when you most want to look dignified.

Freud on long objects

Freud listed long objects, sticks and tree trunks among the male symbols in dreams.^[1] A banana is long, so a Freudian reading puts it on that list, which is the reading everyone already suspects, though it applies his list and isn't something he wrote about bananas. He would also have begun with the day before, and since a banana is an everyday food the likeliest source is yesterday's lunch, then your own associations, and only then any symbol.

Questions to ask about your banana dream

Bananas sit somewhere between comfort food and a joke, so a few questions help you find the right reading.

• Was the banana green, ripe or rotten?
• Were you eating it, picking it, slipping on it or watching it?
• Did the dream feel comfortable, funny, sensual or embarrassing?
• What in your life is ripening, or has been left too long?

Oniri gets you to fill in that kind of detail before it reads a banana dream, so a ripe bunch and a blackened one don't get lumped together.