Dreamcatcher
In some Native American cultures, a dreamcatcher is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. The dreamcatcher may also include sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally they are often hung over cradles as protection. It originates in Ojibwe culture as the spider web charm, a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider’s web, used as a protective charm for infants. Dreamcatchers today come in a variety of different sizes and styles.
Real authentic, traditional dreamcatchers are handmade and crafted only from all natural materials, measuring just a few small inches across in size. The hoops are usually constructed of a bent Red Willow branch covered in stretched sinews. Wrapping the frame in leather is another common finishing touch for real dream catchers.
History
History of dreamcatchers is that,
They were adopted in the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and gained popularity as a widely marketed Native crafts items in the 1980s. Today the dreamcatcher is associated with Native American culture in general, but dream catchers are often believed to have originated from the Ojibwa Chippewa tribe in particular.
The Lakota tribe also has its own legend about the origins of the dreamcatcher, but most ethnographers believe the dreamcatchers were passed down from the Ojibwe through intermarriage and trade. The Ojibwe word for dreamcatcher asabikeshiinh actually means spider, referring to the web woven to loosely cover the hoop. The patterns of the dream catcher are similar to the webbing these Native Americans also used for making snowshoes.
Ojibwa Legend & Story of the Dreamcatchers
Many cultures find spiders to be creepy crawlers, the Ojibwe people found them to be a symbol of protection and comfort. According to the Ojibwa story, a mystical and maternal Spider Woman served as the spiritual protector for the tribe, especially for young children, kids and babies. As the Ojibwe people continued to grow and spread out across the land, The Spider Woman found it difficult to continue to protect and watch over all the members of the tribe as they migrated farther and farther away. This is why she created the first dreamcatcher. Following her example, mothers and grandmothers would recreate the maternal keepsake as a means of mystically protecting their children and families from afar.
Purpose & Meaning Of The Dreamcatchers
Sometimes referred to as Sacred Hoops, Ojibwe dreamcatchers were traditionally used as talismans(A talisman is an object that someone believes holds magical properties that bring good luck to the possessor or protect the possessor from evil or harm), to protect sleeping people, usually children, from bad dreams and nightmares. Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams, both good and bad. When hung above the bed in a place where the morning sunlight can hit it, the dream catcher attracts and catches all sorts of dreams and thoughts into its webs. Good dreams pass through and gently slide down the feathers to comfort the sleeper below. Bad dreams, however, are caught up in its protective net and destroyed, burned up in the light of day.
Web, Feathers & Beads
All parts of the authentic Native American dreamcatcher have meaning tied to the natural world. The shape of the dreamcatcher is a circle because it represents the circle of life and how forces like the sun and moon travel each day and night across the sky. The dream catcher web catches the bad dreams during the night and dispose of them when the day comes. As for the good dreams, the feathers act as a fluffy, pillow-like ladder that allows them to gently descend upon the sleeping person undisturbed. There is some contention when it comes to the meaning of the beads that often decorate the dreamcatcher. According to some American Indians, the beads symbolize the spider the web weaver itself. Others believe the beads symbolize the good dreams that could not pass through the web, immortalized in the form of sacred charms.
Traditions Behind Dreamcatchers
Popularly known as good luck charms, a traditional dreamcatcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive dreams through.
Use Of Dreamcatchers
Legend says that you should hang a dreamcatcher above a bed, dreamcatchers are hung above the beds of sleeping people or children to protect them from bad dreams and evil spirits. Legends held that the spider web design of the dreamcatcher would allow good dreams to pass through and float down the hanging beads and feathers to sleeping children.
The dreamcatchers reminds us how important the dream world has been to people throughout time. Dreams have provided medicine men, shamans and prophets a portal to another realm. Even though today most of us tend to focus on the physiology of the dream state, we can still appreciate the power of our nightly visits to that other world.
Never stop catching your dreams, let your dreams be bigger than your fears.
Dont just be a dreamer be a dreamcatcher