Dreamcatcher

This article is about the Native American object. For other uses, see Dreamcatcher (disambiguation).
Dreamcatcher

In some Native American cultures, a dreamcatcher (or dream catcher; Lakota: iháŋbla gmunka, Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for "spider"[1][2] or Ojibwe: bawaajige nagwaagan meaning "dream snare"[2]) is a handmade object based on a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads.

Origin

Dreamcatchers originated with the Ojibwe people and were later adopted by some neighboring nations through intermarriage and trade. Native Americans believed that the harvest would be bountiful that season if the feathers ruffled more than 5 times in one night. It wasn't until the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s that they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different nations. Some consider the dreamcatcher a symbol of unity among the various Native Nations, and a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. However, many other Native Americans have come to see dreamcatchers as over-commercialized, offensively misappropriated and misused by non-Natives.[3][4]

Legend and beliefs

The Ojibwe people have an ancient legend about the origin of the dreamcatcher. Storytellers speak of the Spider Woman, known as Asibikaashi; she took care of the children and the people on the land. Eventually, the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America and it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children. So the mothers and grandmothers would weave magical webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The dreamcatchers would filter out all bad dreams and only allow good thoughts to enter our mind. Once the sun rises, all bad dreams just disappear.[2] American ethnographer Frances Densmore wrote:

Even infants were provided with protective charms. Examples of these are the "spiderwebs" hung on the hoop of a cradle board. These articles consisted of wooden hoops about 3½ inches in diameter filled with an imitation of a spider's web made of fine yarn, usually dyed red. 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."[5]

Traditionally, the Ojibwe construct dreamcatchers by tying sinew strands in a web around a small round or tear-shaped frame of willow (in a way roughly similar to their method for making snowshoe webbing). The resulting "dream-catcher", hung above the bed, is used as a charm to protect sleeping people, usually children, from nightmares.

The Ojibwe believe that a dreamcatcher changes a person's dreams. According to Konrad J. Kaweczynski, "Only good dreams would be allowed to filter through... Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day."[6] Good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper.

Dreamcatcher parts

When dreamcatchers were originally made, the Ojibwe people used willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. The shape of the dreamcatcher is a circle because it represents how giizis – the sun, moon, month – travel each day across the sky.[2]

Popularization

In the course of becoming popular outside of the Ojibwe Nation, and then outside of the pan-Indian communities, various types of "dreamcatchers, "many of which bear little resemblance to the traditional styles, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New age groups and individuals. According to Philip Jenkins, this is considered by many traditional Native peoples and their supporters to be an undesirable form of cultural appropriation.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary
  2. 1 2 3 4 Prindle, Tara. "NativeTech: Dream Catchers". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  3. 1 2 Jenkins, Philip (September 2004). Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516115-7.
  4. ↑ "Native American Dream catchers", Native-Languages
  5. ↑ Densmore, Frances (1929, 1979) Chippewa Customs. Minn. Hist. Soc. Press; pg. 113.
  6. ↑ Terri J. Andrews, "Living by the Dream", World & I, Nov. 1998, p. 204

External links

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