This is due, in part, to the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. While the oldest origins of the dreamcatcher are found in Ojibwe and Lakota culture, the image and use of dreamcatchers is found across Native Nations. Because of this variation in origin story, the Lakota believe that the dreamcatcher holds their destiny as well as protecting against evil. Their good thoughts and ideas will become caught in the web, and the bad will pass through the center. Once he is finished, he advises the leader to take the hoop and share it with his people.

While sharing his wisdom about human life, Iktomi weaves a web within a hoop of willow. In this tale, Iktomi, a wise trickster spirit, appears to a spiritual leader. As the population grew, it became too difficult for Spider Woman to keep up, and so she decided to share her wisdom with women, mothers and grandmothers who would take up the job of weaving dreamcatchers for their babies.Ī very different origin story comes from the Lakota People. To protect infants, Spider Woman would weave a special web above the baby’s cradle board while they were sleeping. The Ojibwe origin story tells of Asibaikaashi, or Spider Woman, a maternal figure who was responsible for the well-being of all the children of the world. While the first written record of the dreamcatcher relates to the Ojibwe People, there are two different stories about how this sacred item came to Native American culture. Any harmful or negative energies in the air would be caught by the netting, just as a true spider web catches anything floating by. She described them as small webs hung over cradles as a protective charm for the little ones. From t-shirts to tattoos, the image of the dreamcatcher is everywhere, but what is a dreamcatcher exactly and what is it meant to do?Īccording to, dreamcatchers were first described to non-Native people in 1929 by Frances Densmore, an ethnographer working among the Ojibwe People.

Most anyone can identify a dreamcatcher on sight, but far fewer know the spiritual and cultural history of this potent symbol.

Where did dream catchers originate