The Interesting Origin Of The Dream Catcher
Do you keep a sleep catcher at the head of the bed or on the wall above the bed? Maybe your sleep catcher is in front of a window or doorway. The dream catcher originated among the Native American peoples of North America and is meant to promote good sleep and good thoughts.
Good dreams and thoughts know their way through the sleep catcher’s net to the sleeper’s dreams, while bad dreams get entangled in the net and are destroyed by the first rays of dawn. Dream catchers are believed to prevent nightmares and protect sleeper rest.
In this article, we take a closer look at the origins of the sleep catcher and the myths associated with them.
The Ojibwe tribe and the origin of the dream catcher
Dream catchers were born in the hands of the Ojibwe tribe in North America, and today they are often sold as ornaments and souvenirs. Tribes made and sold catchers to visitors to Indian sanctuaries, and in the 1960s, dream catchers rose into the mainstream with the new age movement. The dream catcher is seen as one of the symbols of Indian culture.
The Ojibwet (also known as the Ojibwa and Chippewa) are native to North America and Canada, and today the tribes live especially in Ontario, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The tribes made the dream catchers using a nettle braided fiber wrapped around a round rink and centered on a spider-web-like formation. Willow was traditionally used to make the dream catcher and was very small, about 10 cm in diameter.
The Ojibwe legend tells the origin of the dream catcher like this:
“Grandma the spider created the universe by singing,
but was annoyed by the bad dreams of the human children.
Grandmother went to Paju and asked her for a few branches,
while Grandma got a few powerful melt from Kotka.
Grandma the spider bent the branches into circles to unite all the people in the world.
He then woven around the branches of the web of wisdom to catch the children’s bad dreams.
The morning rays of the grandfather burned off the bad dreams stuck in the net , and the remaining
dreams turned into morning dew and flowed back to Mother Earth along the feathers of Kotka. ”
The purpose of a sleep catcher is therefore to prevent bad dreams and to keep evil energy and evil spirits away from the sleeper. Many Native American tribes criticized the Ojibwe tribes for selling dream catchers to outsiders because they felt it diminished the mystical and spiritual value of the dream catcher. Outsiders of the tribe used to buy dream catchers as mere ornaments, and may not have appreciated their original purpose and story.
The purpose of the dream catcher
The dream catcher is to be hung on the head of the bed or above the cradle of a small child. The dream catcher catches the bad dreams of children in particular and guarantees a peaceful night’s sleep. According to the Ojibwe tribe, the dream catcher works as follows:
The sleep catcher filters the night’s sleep through the net, so when you sleep, nightmares or negative dreams get caught in the sleep catcher’s center net and can’t penetrate your mind. Good dreams and positive energy, in turn, get through the net and guarantee the sleeper a relaxing, pleasant sleep. The rays of the morning sun destroy the bad dreams left in the net and they can’t touch us at all.
According to the beliefs of the Ojibwe tribe, a beautiful woman named Asibikaashi, also known as the aforementioned spider-grandmother, cares for and protects all beings in the world, both animals and humans. Asibikaashi wanted to take care of the human children in particular, so he bowed above the cradles and beds of the children, and woven an invisible and thin net into which the bad dreams clung. That way kids could never see bad dreams.
According to the Lakota Indians, the dream catcher works a little differently, even though the purpose is the same:
Nightmares and negative energy pass through the net and disappear entirely, while good dreams get stuck in the center of the net, and flow into the beautiful feathers hanging from the catcher and eventually into the person sleeping beneath them. This is how good dreams reach the sleeper, and a night’s sleep is safe and peaceful. So bad dreams go through the net and good dreams get stuck in it.
Dream catchers are now sold in many different places and the origin of a dream catcher can be forgotten from time to time. You can make a sleep catcher yourself with instructions or courses available online. A self-made dream catcher feels personal and more important than a cheap copy – so miraculously try making the catcher yourself! You can choose materials and colors according to your own preferences, and take advantage of a variety of fibers, leather, feathers and beads.
