Dream catchers are one of the most fascinating traditions of Native Americans. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive dreams through. The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center of the dream catcher, and glide down the feathers to the sleeping person below. The negative dreams would get caught up in the web, and expire when the first rays of the sun struck them.
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. Many symbols started around the hoop, and one of these symbols is the dream catcher.
Popular Native American legend says Dream catchers, woven webs of sinew and feathers, snare nightmares to dissolve them in the rays of the morning sun, while letting the good dreams through. In this part of the country the dreamcatcher is a staple in all Southwest decor! Dream catchers are woven of sinew like a spider web within a hoop. Dream Catchers are a spiritual tool used to help assure good dreams to those that sleep under them. A dream catcher is usually placed over a place you would sleep where the morning light can hit it. As you sleep all dreams from the spirit world have to pass through the dream catcher. Only good dreams can pass through to the dreamer while the bad dreams are caught in the webbing.
Dream Catcher Lore:
Dream Catcher Native American Legend
Popular Native American legend says Dream catchers, woven webs of sinew and feathers, snare nightmares to dissolve them in the rays of the morning sun, while letting the good dreams through. In this part of the country the dreamcatcher is a staple in all Southwest decor! Dream catchers are woven of sinew like a spider web within a hoop. A dream catcher is a handmade artifact with a wooden hoop, woven web, and feathers or beads. The common belief is that dream catchers are Native American craftwork that keeps nightmares away. Origin of Dream Catchers. The Ojibwe Nation (also known as the Chippewa) called it the spider web charm or dream snare. The legend is that the spider webs.
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Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams both good and bad. The dream catcher when hung over or near your bed swinging freely in the air, catches the dreams as they flow by. The good dreams know how to pass through the dream catcher, slipping through the outer holes and slide down the soft feathers so gently that many times the sleeper does not know that he/she is dreaming. The bad dreams not knowing the way get tangled in the dream catcher and perish with the first light of the new day.
Native American Culture
How the Dream Catcher is made:
Dream Catcher Native American
Using a hoop of willow, and decorating it with findings, bits and pieces of everyday life, (feathers, arrow heads, beads, etc) the dream catcher is believed to have the power to catch all of a person’s dreams, trapping the bad ones, and letting only the good dreams pass through the dream catcher.