Ojibwa+Dream+Catchers

Taylor Skeels April 14, 2011 Mrs. Coppoc Am In 210 Ojibwa Dream Catchers  Dream catchers are circular framed nets that are hung above people at night to catch bad dreams and let good dreams come through. The tradition was for grandparents to make dream catchers for the infants who are vulnerable to much harm during sleep. Originally American Indians intended dream catchers to be only for themselves but now they are available to anyone. The Ojibwa are usually given credit as being the first American Indian tribe to invent dream catchers but it is not a known fact. Many tribes believe that they are tribe that invented dream catchers. The problem is that there is no documentation of when they were actually created. We just have a general idea of when it could have been. The Ojibwa (Also Ojibwe, Ojibway, Chippewa, or Chippeway) tribe accredited as the original creator of dream catchers. It is unknown exactly when dream catchers were invented but is believed to have started around the mid 1800’s or early 1900’s. Much of this information was documented by the American ethnographer, Frances Densmore. Popularity of dream catchers boomed in the 1960’s and 1970’s during the Pan-Indian Movement. Since the 70’s the use and sale of dream catchers has been widespread of the world. Many tribes want to claim that their people created dream catchers and that the legend of how they started came from their oral traditions. Each tribe created a legend of how dream catchers started that relates to their culture. There are many different legends but many are similar to the Ojibwa’s version of the legend. This is the Ojibwa legend of dream catchers:  In the ancient Ojibwa Nation, all of the clans were located in a place they called Turtle Island. To fulfill a prophecy, the clans had to break apart into the four corners of North America. When this happened Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) did not have enough time to make the journey to every cradle board in the four corners of North America. So Asibikaashi decided to pass on the tradition to the grandmothers, and the mothers, and the sisters. Each and every dream catcher was supposed to be magical and there is symbolism everywhere. They believed that Asibikaashi helped their god bring Giizis (Sun) back to their people. The circular shape of dream catchers represents the cycle of the sun being brought back to their people. In original Ojibwa dream catchers there are seven or eight spots where the web connects to the circular hoop. This is supposed to represent the Seven Prophecies of the Ojibwa’s tribe or the eight legs of Asibikaashi. The hole that is left open in the center of Ojibwa dream catchers is where they believe only good bawedjigewin (dreams) can pass through. The webbing is what is supposed to catch the bad bawedjigewin. Also all dream catchers have one or more feathers that dangle from the bottom. This is supposed to mean breath or life and help the person using the dream catcher while sleeping. During the Pan-Indian movement dream catchers were popularized to represent unity within various American Indian Tribes. This was a huge success and it helped many American Indians regain some identity. Unfortunately dream catchers have been over commercialized by Indians and Non-Indians alike. They both realized that is was a popular item that could sell for money and many believe that this has diminished the true meaning of a dream catcher. It may forever be unknown when dream catchers were invented and what tribe invented them. Most scholars agree that the Ojibwa created them but that is not absolute. The important thing to remember is that dream catchers have a lot of meaning and had a great impact on American Indians as a whole.  Annotated Bibliography "Ojibwe Dream Catcher History | Dream-Catchers.org." // Dream Catchers History and Legend | Dream-Catchers.org //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < [] >. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website covers many basic topics of dream catchers like what they are and the history of them. The main purposes for this website is to give basic knowledge of dream catchers, how to make them, and links for where to buy dream catcher related stuff. This is source is reliable and it was quite useful in finding information. I used the stuff I learned from this website and incorporated it into my paper. "NativeTech: Dream Catchers." // NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This source gives information on the origins, purpose, and application of dream catchers. The purpose is to just give general knowledge on the subject. This website is very short but it does give some good information that I found on other sites. I used a couple facts in my paper that I found from this site. // ENTRANCE //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website was harder to tell how reliable it would be. There was a lot of information that I found on other websites but the way it was put together did not seem very professional. When you get closer to the end of the chapter there are more oral traditions and stories that were meaningful. "Dreamcatcher." // Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This wiki page was just like any other wiki page. It gives a lot of general factual information. For me this was a great website to start finding background information and basic knowledge. It also gave me a couple links to other sites that I used for my paper. "Ojibwe Language." // Dream Catchers of the Seventh Fire Dream Catcher Heritage Collection //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website did not give as much general information as most of the other sources but instead gives a lot of links to other pages and websites. The information presented on dream catchers was minimal. It gave good general information on dream catchers but it mostly focused on Ojibwa culture as a whole. It was a decent source that you could at least gain some information on the subject. "Native American Dreamcatchers." // Native American Language Net: Preserving and Promoting Indigenous American Indian Languages //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website is similar to one of the websites I mentioned earlier. It gives mostly the same information and it is set up in the same format. When looking at this site it gives more pictures and sites than it does basic information on dream catchers. I used very minimal information from this source. "Dreamcatcher Legends A Collection of Native American Dreamcatcher Lore." // Uncommon Dreamcatchers Feather Jewelry Painted Chairs by Cyna Unltd //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This is a very short website that contains legends of dream catchers. It is not opinionated and it does not give much information on the history of dream catchers and stuff along those lines. There are a couple links to this page but I would not recommend this website to people. This site was used the least in my paper. "Ojibwe Dream Catcher Legend." // Dreamcatcher Store, Dream Catcher Legends and How to Craft Instructions //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website did not give a lot of information but it did tell a lot about the symbolism and what everything on the dream catchers mean. This website also has a lot of links that lead to general American Indian culture. This is a good website for some general knowledge but it did not help me too much with my paper. "Ojibwa - Native Americans in Olden Times for Kids." // MrDonn.org - Native American Lesson Plans, Games, Interactives //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This was probably the most useless website that I found during my search. It is very short in and it only tells about what the dream catcher means briefly. Most of the information was stuff that I had already found or knew beforehand. I did not really use any of this in my paper. Do not waste your time with this website. "Dream Catchers Trading Post." // Manataka American Indian Council //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website gave a variety of information. It briefly touched on the history of dream catchers but offered books and different ways of making dream catchers. I used this source minimally but there was definitely some good information of here. It is worth at least browsing time. "Dreamcatcher - New World Encyclopedia." // Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This encyclopedia like website offered a lot of information like Wikipedia did. It gave some of the same information that I had seen on other sites but it also touched on dream catchers relating to the Lakota tribe. I used some information on this website and some was used in my paper. "Ojibwe Dream Catcher Legend - Native American." // BellaOnline -- The Voice of Women //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website like many other websites on dream catchers focused on the legend of the dream catcher. The material was short but everything was similar to stuff I had already found. This was good for a quick read to get some basic facts. I would recommend this website for basic knowledge. "Dreamcatchers." // Famousamericanindians4 //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This webpage was short and seemed to not be too reliable. The page wasn’t set up professionally and it looked as if it was made by a high school student. There was minimal information given that was useful for my paper. I would not recommend this webpage to someone. "Legend of the Ojibwe Dream Catcher." Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This webpage gives a short story on the legend and meanings of dream catchers. It is a pretty short read but gives some good details. I used probably one item from this webpage in my paper. I would recommend at least looking at this site but it was just average. "The Dreamcatcher." // The Dream Catcher //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This webpage gave some basic information that I have found on previous sites but it also exposed some lies. It explained how the Ojibwa not the Lakota invented dream catchers. I used minimal information from this webpage in my paper. "Dreamcatcher - Native American Indian Symbol Of Unity." // Arizona Indian Jewelry - Unique And Authentic Native American Indian Jewelry At Online Prices //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website gives a lot of broad information on dream catchers. It also gives links to other sites and sells dream catchers. I used some of the information from this website in my paper and I would recommend this site to others. "Google Images." // Google //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I used this blog page for the picture. It was the first picture that came up on Google images and it was a good example of an authentic dream catcher. Worden, Leon. "Dream Catchers: Holding the Destiny of the Future." // Leon Worden's Universe //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This webpage was designed to promote an event where dream catchers were being sold along with other American Indian cultural items. The majority of the webpage gives background information on dream catchers like the history and meaning of them. I used a little bit of information from this website in my paper. It was a reliable source and I would recommend it someone else. "DREAM CATCHERS - Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society." // DANCING TO EAGLE SPIRIT SOCIETY ~ Serving the Two Spirited Community and Their Allies //. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This webpage talked about the origins and the meanings of the styles and colors used in dream catchers. It also touched on the American Indian medicine wheel. I used some of the information in my paper. It seemed like a reliable source and I would probably recommend it to someone. "Legend of the Dream Catcher."Wild Horse".Native American Art & History." // "Wild Horse". Native American Art & History. // Web. 17 Apr. 2011. < <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This website strictly talks about the legends of dream catchers. There isn’t a lot of information on the page but I did find a couple interesting stories. I didn’t use any of the information from this website in my paper and I wouldn’t recommend it to someone.