dreamcatchers

Dream Catchers

Asubakacin

(Ojibwe White Earth Band meaning "net-like, looks like a net")

Bwaajige Ngwaagan

(Ojibwe Curve Lake Band meaning "dream snare")

The Ojibwe Dream Catcher has been used for many years. The first Dream Catcher was hung on the baby's cradle board.

It is believed that the web captured the bad dreams so they couldn't harm anyone. Bad dreams were held in the web till they evaporated in the first rays of Morning Sun.

Good Dreams, however, could slip through the center of the web. Traditional Dream Catchers are made from the bent red willow sinew, leather and feathers.

Recent evolvement of the Dream Catcher into an art form,
includes beaded webbing and quills from porcupines.

Today dream catchers are made by people from many Nations and even by some who are non-native. A great deal of people are under the impression that the Lakota /Dakota /Nakota (Called Sioux by others) originated the dream catcher. There are many Anishinaabe stories and legends about spiders and webs, but the Ojibwe (called Chippewa by others) originated the dream catcher. A look or study at the long tradition of storytelling, oral histories, passed down parent to child, generation after generation, clears up any confusion about the origin of dream catchers. There are many variations to how people make the dream catcher also. You will notice them to range from very plain on willow to extremely elaborate with beads, stones, feathers and quills.

Dream Catchers are made by both Anishinaabe men and women today.

Ojibwe Dreamcatcher Origin Story

Long ago in the ancient world of the Ojibwe Nation, the Clans were all located in one general area of that place known as Turtle Island. This is the way that the old Ojibwe storytellers say how Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) helped Nanabozhoo bring giizis (sun) back to the Anishinaabeg (people). Even today, Asibikaashi will build her special lodge before dawn. If you are awake at dawn, as you should be, look for her lodge and you will see this miracle of how she captures the sunrise as the light sparkles on the dew which is gathered there.

Asibikaashi took care of her children, the Anishinaabeg of Turtle Island, and she continues to do so to this day. When the Ojibwe Nation dispersed to the four corners of North America, to fill a prophecy, Asibikaashi had a difficult time making her journey to all those cradle boards, so the mothers, sisters, and Nokomis (grandmother) took up the practice of weaving the magical webs for the new babies using willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. It is in the shape of a circle to represent how giizis travels each day across the sky. The dream catcher will filter out all the bad bawedjigewin (dreams) and allow only good thoughts to enter into our minds when we are just binoojiinhsag (children). You will see a small hole in the center of each dream catcher where those good bawadjige may come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams would perish. When we see little asibikaashi, we should not fear her, but instead respect and protect her. In honor of their origin, the number of points where the web connected to the hoop numbered 8 for Spider Woman's eight legs or 7 for the Seven Prophecies.

It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher; it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) and the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather). This is not to say that the use of each is restricted by gender, but that to use the feather each is aware of the gender properties she/he is invoking. (Anishinaabe people, in general, are very specific about gender roles and identity.) The use of gem stones, as we do in the ones we make for sale, is not something that was done by the old ones. Government laws have forbidden the sale of feathers from our sacred birds, so using four gem stones or beads, to represent the four directions, and the stones used by western nations were substituted by us. The woven dream catchers of adults do not use feathers.

Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dream catchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams." It is also customary in many parts of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. to have the dream catchers be a tear-drop or snow shoe shape.

The above story is a combination of information gathered by lyn Dearborn, from California, and Mary Ritchie, of the Northern Woodlands, with assistance from Canadian elders. Miigwech!

Rewritten by cs



	Dream Catchers Asubakacin (Ojibwe White Earth Band meaning "net-like, looks like a net") Bwaajige Ngwaagan (Ojibwe Curve Lake Band meaning "dream snare") The Ojibwe Dream Catcher has been used for many years. The first Dream Catcher was hung on the baby's cradle board. It is believed that the web captured the bad dreams so they couldn't harm anyone. Bad dreams were held in the web till they evaporated in the first rays of Morning Sun. Good Dreams, however, could slip through the center of the web. Traditional Dream Catchers are made from the bent red willow sinew, leather and feathers. Recent evolvement of the Dream Catcher into an art form, includes beaded webbing and quills from porcupines. Today dream catchers are made by people from many Nations and even by some who are non-native. A great deal of people are under the impression that the Lakota /Dakota /Nakota (Called Sioux by others) originated the dream catcher. There are many Anishinaabe stories and legends about spiders and webs, but the Ojibwe (called Chippewa by others) originated the dream catcher. A look or study at the long tradition of storytelling, oral histories, passed down parent to child, generation after generation, clears up any confusion about the origin of dream catchers. There are many variations to how people make the dream catcher also. You will notice them to range from very plain on willow to extremely elaborate with beads, stones, feathers and quills. Dream Catchers are made by both Anishinaabe men and women today. Ojibwe Dreamcatcher Origin Story Long ago in the ancient world of the Ojibwe Nation, the Clans were all located in one general area of that place known as Turtle Island. This is the way that the old Ojibwe storytellers say how Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) helped Nanabozhoo bring giizis (sun) back to the Anishinaabeg (people). Even today, Asibikaashi will build her special lodge before dawn. If you are awake at dawn, as you should be, look for her lodge and you will see this miracle of how she captures the sunrise as the light sparkles on the dew which is gathered there. Asibikaashi took care of her children, the Anishinaabeg of Turtle Island, and she continues to do so to this day. When the Ojibwe Nation dispersed to the four corners of North America, to fill a prophecy, Asibikaashi had a difficult time making her journey to all those cradle boards, so the mothers, sisters, and Nokomis (grandmother) took up the practice of weaving the magical webs for the new babies using willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. It is in the shape of a circle to represent how giizis travels each day across the sky. The dream catcher will filter out all the bad bawedjigewin (dreams) and allow only good thoughts to enter into our minds when we are just binoojiinhsag (children). You will see a small hole in the center of each dream catcher where those good bawadjige may come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams would perish. When we see little asibikaashi, we should not fear her, but instead respect and protect her. In honor of their origin, the number of points where the web connected to the hoop numbered 8 for Spider Woman's eight legs or 7 for the Seven Prophecies. It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher; it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) and the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather). This is not to say that the use of each is restricted by gender, but that to use the feather each is aware of the gender properties she/he is invoking. (Anishinaabe people, in general, are very specific about gender roles and identity.) The use of gem stones, as we do in the ones we make for sale, is not something that was done by the old ones. Government laws have forbidden the sale of feathers from our sacred birds, so using four gem stones or beads, to represent the four directions, and the stones used by western nations were substituted by us. The woven dream catchers of adults do not use feathers. Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dream catchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams." It is also customary in many parts of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. to have the dream catchers be a tear-drop or snow shoe shape. The above story is a combination of information gathered by lyn Dearborn, from California, and Mary Ritchie, of the Northern Woodlands, with assistance from Canadian elders. Miigwech! Rewritten by cs