Dreamcatcher
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- This is about the traditional Native American object. For other uses, see Dreamcatcher (disambiguation).
In Ojibwa (Chippewa) culture, a dreamcatcher (or dream catcher; Ojibwe asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for "spider"[1][2] or 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 personal and sacred items such as feathers and beads.
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[edit] Origin and legends
While dreamcatchers originated in the Ojibwa Nation, during the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different Nations. Some consider the dreamcatcher a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. However, other Native Americans have come to see dreamcatchers as "tacky" and over-commercialized, especially as most of them are being manufactured and sold by non-Natives.[3]
Traditionally, the Ojibwa 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 children from nightmares. As dreamcatchers are made of willow and sinew, they are not meant to last forever but are intended to dry out and collapse as the child enters the age of adulthood.[citation needed]
The Ojibwa believe that a dreamcatcher changes a person's dreams. According to Terri J. Andrews, "Only good dreams would be allowed to filter through . . . Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day."[4] Good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper.
Another version from the same article was, "Good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person. The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn."[5]
[edit] Popularization
In the course of becoming popular outside of the Ojibwa Nation, and then outside of the pan-Indian communities, "dreamcatchers" are now made, exhibited, and sold by some New age groups and individuals. According to Philip Jenkins, this is considered by most traditional Native peoples and their supporters to be an undesirable form of cultural appropriation.[6]
The official portrait of Ralph Klein, former Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta and whose wife Colleen Klein is Métis, incorporates a dreamcatcher.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary
- ^ a b Prindle, Tara. "NativeTech: Dream Catchers". http://www.nativetech.org/dreamcat/dreamcat.html. Retrieved September 23 2007.
- ^ "Native American Dreamcatchers", Native-Languages
- ^ Terri J. Andrews, "Living by the Dream", World & I, Nov. 1998, p. 204
- ^ Terri J. Andrews, "Living by the Dream", World & I, Nov. 1998, p. 204
- ^ Jenkins, Philip (September 2004). Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195161157.
- ^ "Ralph Klein breaks tradition in legislature portrait". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-31. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/08/30/klein-portrait.html?ref=rss.
[edit] External links
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