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.
- Native american dreamcatchers. Condition is 'New'. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail. 10 inch Dream catcher Made with leather and deer antler, bronze plated tubing With blue glass beads and bronze beads. Pouch hand made and hand painted wolf paw. Very beautiful, unique. Will make a great home decoration. 7 turkey feathers.Artist Mikaylonewolf.
- Native american willow wreath dream catchers; 12' BROWN Dark Willow Wreath. 12' BURGUNDY Dark Willow Wreath. 12' LAVENDER Dark Willow Wreath.
Traditionally Dreamcatchers were constructed by tying sinew strands in a web around a small round or tear-shaped frame of willow. The resulting 'dream-catcher', hung above the bed, is used as a charm to protect sleeping people, usually children, from nightmares. These Dreamcatchers from Made in New Mexico are Handmade by Navajo artisans. A dream catcher is supposed to be made in intricate, ceremonial steps that include giving thanks for the spirit of the wood used in it. Those steps fall by the wayside when a person buys a make-it-yourself kit from a discount store, says Gerald White, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation, various types of 'dreamcatchers', many of which bear little resemblance to the traditional styles, and that even incorporate materials that work against the intended purpose, are now made. Many Indigenous people have come to see these 'dreamcatchers' as offensive cultural appropriation.
Dream Catcher Lore:
Indigenous Dream Catchers
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.
How the Dream Catcher is made:
What Is A Dream Catcher
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.