American Indian Dream Catcher

Posted on 17-03-2021 by admin

American Indian Dream Catchers Meaning
American Indian Dream Catcher History
American Indian Dream Catchers Meaning

The dream catcher has been a part of Native American culture for generations. One element of Native American dream catcher relates to the tradition of the hoop. Some Native Americans of North America held the hoop in the highest esteem, because it symbolized strength and unity. The story about Native American dream catchers says that the web will capture all of the good dreams and let the bad dreams go out through the hole. Dream catchers were thought to have originated with the Ojibwe tribe, also known to many as the Chippewa Indians. And there are many stories about how the.

According to the Native American people, dreams are messages that come from the sacred spirits. There are different stories pertaining to Native American dream catchers and these are variations of the legend as seen by different Native American tribes. One version states that the hole in the middle of Native American dream catchers allows the good dreams to be passed on to the sleeper, while the web traps all of the bad dreams, and then at the first light of morning the bad dreams would disappear.

Your Dream Catcher is humming Above your bed. Listen so softly I know you can hear The tone of beyond Close to your ear. Love is alive And living in you Beyond all your troubles Where good dreams are true. An ancient Chippewa tradition The dream net has been made For many generations Where spirit dreams have played. One element of Native American dream catcher relates to the tradition of the hoop. Some Native Americans of North America held the hoop in the highest esteem because it symbolized strength and unity. Many symbols started around the hoop, and one of these symbols is the dream catcher.

Another version of the story about Native American dream catchers says that the web will capture all of the good dreams and let the bad dreams go out through the hole. Dream catchers were thought to have originated with the Ojibwe tribe, also known to many as the Chippewa Indians. And there are many stories about how the dream catcher came to be. The Ojibwe tribes used to tie strands of sinew in webs around a tear-shaped frame and then they would hang the dream catcher above a sleeping Native American child’s bed to help protect them from nightmares.

Normally Native American dream catchers are fairly small and are made by bending wood (originally birch) and sinew string tied together. A feather was usually seen hanging from the webbing. Today it is very common to see Native American dream catchers in many places. You can see them hanging from car mirrors, on people’s walls as decorations, and even in many modern day tattoo designs. Many are mass produced and sold as decoration but it is still possible to find real authentic hand made Native American dream catchers. There are thousand of Native Americans that live on reservations and others that live on their own that are still Native American traditionalists, and among these Native people you can find these authentic dreamcatchers. Over time the dreamcatcher was also adopted by many other Native American tribes’ throughout the land and they gained a lot of popularity as beautiful decorations in the 1960’s and 70’s. When you find somewhere to obtain an authentic dream catcher nowadays it will usually come with a certificate of authenticity with the name of the Native American artist who made the dreamcatcher on it, this will help ensure you it is a real Native American dreamcatcher.

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In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher or dream catcher (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider')^[1] 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 a cradle as protection.^[2] It originates in Anishinaabe culture as the 'spider web charm' (Anishinaabe: asubakacin 'net-like', White Earth Band; bwaajige ngwaagan 'dream snare', Curve Lake Band^[3]), a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.^[2]

Dreamcatchers 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. ^[4]

Ojibwe origin[edit]

'Spider web' charm, hung on infant's cradle (shown alongside a 'Mask used in game' and 'Ghost leg, to frighten children', Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin (1929).

Ethnographer Frances Densmore in 1929 recorded an Ojibwe legend according to which the 'spiderwebs' protective charms originate with Spider Woman, known as Asibikaashi; who takes care of the children and the people on the land. As the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children.^[2] So the mothers and grandmothers weave webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The purpose of these charms is apotropaic and not explicitly connected with dreams:

Even infants were provided with protective charms. Examples of these are the 'spiderwebs' hung on the hoop of a cradle board. In old times this netting was made of nettle fiber. Two spider webs were usually hung on the hoop, and it was said that they 'caught any harm that might be in the air as a spider's web catches and holds whatever comes in contact with it.'^[2]

Basil Johnston, an elder from Neyaashiinigmiing, in his Ojibway Heritage (1976) gives the story of Spider (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, 'little net maker') as a trickster figure catching Snake in his web.^[5]^{[clarification needed]}

Modern uses[edit]

Contemporary 'dreamcatcher' sold at a craft fair in El Quisco, Chile in 2006.

While Dreamcatchers continue to be used in a traditional manner in their communities and cultures of origin, a derivative form of 'dreamcatchers' were also adopted into the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s as a symbol of unity among the various Native American cultures, or a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures.^[4]

The name 'dream catcher' was published in mainstream, non-Native media in the 1970s^[6] and became widely known as a 'Native crafts item' by the 1980s,^[7]by the early 1990s 'one of the most popular and marketable' ones.^[8]

In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation during the Pan-Native movement in the '60s, various types of 'dreamcatchers', many of which bear little resemblance to traditional styles, and that incorporate materials that would not be traditionally used, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New age groups and individuals. Some Native Americans have come to see these 'dreamcatchers' as over-commercialized, like 'sort of the Indian equivalent of a tacky plastic Jesus hanging in your truck,' while others find it a loving tradition or symbol of native unity. ^[4]

A mounted and framed dreamcatcher is being used as a shared symbol of hope and healing by the Little Thunderbirds Drum and Dance Troupe from the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. In recognition of the shared trauma and loss experienced, both at their school during the Red Lake shootings, and by other students who have survived similar school shootings, they have traveled to other schools to meet with students, share songs and stories, and gift them with the dreamcatcher. The dreamcatcher has now been passed from Red Lake to students at Columbine CO, to Sandy Hook CT, to Marysville WA, to Townville SC, to Parkland FL.^[9]^[10]^[11]