Dreamcatchers
Dreamcatchers have so many legends attached to them; it is almost impossible to decide what is fact or fiction. Although a variety of people and many Native Americans tribes make them today, and despite the fact that they are available through many various outlets, it is believed that the Ojibway or Ojibwe (called the Chippewa) originated the Dreamcatcher.

Ojibway legend tells of a time when all their people lived in a place called Turtle Island. When the land became too small to hold all their people the tribe dispersed to other lands, to the four winds. Asibikaashi, Spider Woman, had to find a way to help Wanabozhoo, Sun, travel far enough to be with all their people. Thus, together they created the suncatcher, known today as the Dreamcatchers. Asibikaashi spun a web, as spiders do, to catch Wanabozhoo’s rays. By doing this, the sun could be carried everywhere, even where her light could not reach. Through time, mothers and grandmothers took over the task, making small ones and attaching them to each newborn’s cradle board. No matter where that child would travel, this would accompany him or her. In this way, the sun would be carried everywhere, continuing to light and give warmth all the members of the original tribe.

Repeatedly throughout many of the different legends a central story has formed. The web hung on a cradle board or by a bed, catching dreams. As the dreams travel through the web, good dreams are permitted to pass through and flow to the feather's tip, to the owner of the web. Bad dreams become so lost among the maze, that when the morning sun comes up, still lost in the web, they are destroyed by the strongest of the early morning light.

Dreams have always had great meaning in Native American culture. It is believed that the night air is filled with good and bad dreams. These dreams are captured in the dreamcatcher's web and only the good dreams will find their way down through the center hole and float down the sacred feathers to the one sleeping beneath it. Bad dreams become entangled in the web where they will perish at the first morning light. Dreamcatchers are hung above the bed to bless the sleeping one, and are said to bring peaceful dreams, good luck and harmony.

Dreamcatchers were originally hung from a baby's cradle to protect the child from nightmares. Articles representing spider webs were also usually hung from the hoop of a child's cradle board. These dreamcatchers were often made of wooden hoops with a 3 1/2 inch diameter, filled with a web made of nettle-stalk cord that was dyed red with bloodroot and wild plum inner bark. By the early 1900's, dark red yarn had been substituted for plant fiber in constructing the web by the Ojibwe. It is said that dreamcatchers catch and hold everything evil, as a spider's web holds everything that comes in contact with it. The feather of the owl is kept for wisdom and the eagle feather is kept for courage.

Each part of the dreamcatcher has an important role in the legends. The circle shape represents the circle of life itself. When each of us is born, we come from the earth, travel our whole life throughout the earth, and upon our death, are returned once again from the earth we were born from, thus completing a circle of life. The web represents the roads we all travel throughout a lifetime as an infant, child, adult, and finally elder. Traditionally, the web was colored red to represent the blood of life. The feather is a sign of breath. No one can survive without air thus; the feather was a reminder that along with sun, air is also needed to sustain life.

Dreamcatchers are made of many different materials. Central to all is a ring, the material for the web itself, and a feather. The ring today can be anything from a manufactured wood or metal ring, to a more traditional willow branch. Willow is a sign of strength. The webs themselves can be imitation sinew, yarn, and even craft-wire. Traditionally, the inner web was strung of nettle-stalk twine colored red with bloodroot or red yarn if available. Feathers would have been selected according to what was available. If there were a choice, the feathers of the bird that was believed to be the stronger one would be chosen.

Dreamcatchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dreamcatcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dreamcatchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams".

The Lakota (Sioux) legend of the dreamcatcher talks of an old Lakota spiritual leader, who while on a high mountain had a vision about Iktomi, the great teacher of wisdom. Iktomi appeared as a spider and spoke in a sacred language only the spiritual leader could understand. While Iktomi spoke, he took the leaders willow hoop which contained beads, feathers and offerings to the gods, and began to spin a web upon it. He told the leader about the cycle of life, beginning as infants, and working through childhood to adulthood, and on to old age where we end up being looked after as infants. Iktomi gave the web to the leader and told him that if he believed in great spirits the web would catch his good dreams and ideas, and bad ones would pass through the hole in the middle thus helping the leader and his people to realize their dreams, ideas and visions.

Elders have taught that all creation contains a duality- the 'unseen', and the 'seen'. That all physical objects possess a spiritual force. This is especially true of the dreamcatcher. This beautiful object, without the prayers and spirit that go into it, is simply that- a beautiful object.

Whatever legend you believe to be the true one, the dreamcatcher has been around for thousands of years and does not appear to be going anywhere.

Shoppers' Tip: Dreamcatchers always have webbing and always have a hole in the center. Many Dreamcatchers are webbed tightly to the center. Which means there is no place for the good dreams to go through! Make sure your Dreamcatcher has an opening at its web's center, if it doesn't, then it is not an authentic Dreamcatcher!