Dreamcatcher

This article is about the Native American object. For other uses, see Dreamcatcher (disambiguation).

Dreamcatcher, Royal Ontario Museum
An ornate, contemporary, nontraditional dreamcatcher

In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider')[1] is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally, dreamcatchers are hung over a cradle or bed as protection.[2] It originates in Anishinaabe culture as "the spider web charm" – asubakacin 'net-like' (White Earth Nation); bwaajige ngwaagan 'dream snare' (Curve Lake First Nation)[3] – a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.[2]

Dream catchers were adopted in the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and gained popularity as widely marketed "Native crafts items" in the 1980s.[4]

  1. ^ "Free English-Ojibwe dictionary and translator - FREELANG". www.freelang.net.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Densmore was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Jim Great Elk Waters, View from the Medicine Lodge (2002), p. 111.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference native-languages.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).