Dreamcatcher is a Native American cultural object.
Dreamcatchers originated with the
Ojibwe people and were later adopted by some neighboring nations through
intermarriage and trade. 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 dream catcher a
symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and a general symbol
of identification with Native American or
First Nations cultures. However, many other Native Americans have come to see dream catchers as over-commercialized, offensively
misappropriated and misused by non-Natives.
The Ojibwe people have an ancient legend about the origin of the
dream catcher. 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
dream catchers would filter out all bad dreams and only allow good
thoughts to enter our mind. Once the sun rises, all bad dreams just
disappear.
In some
Native American cultures, a
dream catcher (or
dream catcher;
Lakota:
iháŋbla gmunka,
Ojibwe:
asabikeshiinh, the
inanimate form of the word for "spider"
or
Ojibwe:
bawaajige nagwaagan meaning "dream snare"
) is a handmade object based on a
willow hoop, on which is woven a loose
net or
web. The dream catcher is then decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads.
Traditionally, the Ojibwe construct dream catchers 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 dream catcher 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."
Good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper.
- Summary from Wikipedia
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