Eagle Dream Catcher Metal Wall Art Crafted From High Quality 16 Gauge Steel. Made In Livonia, Michigan While Using A Unique Hand Made Production Process. In Addition, The Product Has A Protective Clear Coat Finish. In Particular, This Provides Outstanding Ultraviolet Ray And Sun Resistance. Aug 24, 2015 - Explore Lark Taylor's board 'Eagle Feather/Dreamcatcher' on Pinterest. See more ideas about eagle feathers, feather, eagle.
So I'm looking to get a tattoo of a dream-catcher, I already have an artist waiting to draw it out I just need to give him a few more details about it.
I was hoping someone would know that meaning behind the different colors in dream-catchers as well as the meaning of the amount of beads in the webbing, the amount of feathers on hanging from the dream-catcher and finally the meaning behind the type of feather. If someone could help me out with that it would be amazing!
Thank you!
Dreamcatchers are Ojibwa cradle decorations invented in the 1920's. They are crib mobiles, nothing more. They have no special meaning or significance. They are designed to entertain babies as they sway in the breeze. That's ALL they are.
I know new-age people ascribe all sorts of ridiculous notions to them. We find it totally hysterical.
We are totally baffled by non-natives obsession with them. Getting a tattoo of a dream catcher is like getting a tattoo of a baby's pacifier. really. You'll never see an indian with a dreamcatcher tattoo, nor does any indian over the age of 4 own one. The one great thing about people who get dreamcatcher tattoos is that it instantly marks you as someone who has no clue about native culture.
I know that every thing on a dream catcher has some kind of meaning. The link below might help you.
All the parts of the dream catcher has meaning.
To begin, the web represent the spider our brother of life for ever repairing the eternal web of life. Thus weaving your life dreams and energy in the universe when you dream.
The ring represents the earth mother and the humble walk we do upon her. The ring was also covered with multi-colored wool representing in my mind and spirit aspects of your personality, moods and emotions. The beads on the web are of the 7 directions thus calling upon them to bless you.
As we believe that we are related to all things and that all things are part of us then the Dream Catcher and medicine wheel is a representation of such sacred belief.
The first color is blue representing Father Sky and all that lives in the sky; grandfather sun, grandmother moon, Star nation and Creation.
The second colored beads are purple this is the color of the inner self and the introspection of where the Creator lives, within us all.
The third color is Yellow this represents the direction of the East where the Yellow Nation is and we call upon their ancestors and the wisdom they carry to come in and teach us. It is also the direction of where the sun rises every day therefore a new beginning. We put the Sacred Eagle in that direction and call upon the abilities to see far beyond what is in front of us and to focus on the task at hand.
The fourth color is Red for the Red Nation. In this direction we call upon their ancestors to come and teach us how to take care of the land and do the work necessary for our families to grow in a strong foundation. It is the direction of honesty, hard work, family, integrity and love.
The fifth color is black. This color represents two roads. The direction of the Black nation and we call upon their ancestors to come and help with healing, also how to care for the water. It is also the direction of the black road, the one of self destruction, abuse and so on. Therefore we pray for understanding of such since we say Creator of all good things. We pray for the lessons that these people bring to us.
The sixth color is of the White nation. We acknowledge the white people and their ancestors. The knowledge and the wisdom on how to use that knowledge in a good way.
The 7th direction is of the color green representing Mother Earth. The one who feeds us, clothes, and protects us from the elements. She supplies all that we need in order to live on this earth. We give thanks for her.
In your Dream catcher, I have finalized the eye with purple again. This is to remind you that we are spiritual beings in all aspects of life and that without such believe then we continuously search the reason of our being and try to explain it in many different formats.
Once the ring and the web are weaved, it represents love, honesty and purity. All of the elements of the dream catcher together represent the earth, fire and water. Things we need to live. So when I make a Dream catcher the feathers are of the Eagle one of our most Sacred Animal Spirit. The Eagle to me is part of my Native ways and is in my personal medicine wheel in the East which represents the ability to fly high and close to the Creator. It also represents part of my name and the Society that was founded for the purpose of advancing the Native American Way of living.
It represents the ability to be love and to love, to take the risk and get out of the nest and fly on your own, the ability to live beyond your shadows. Once put on the dream catcher it represents the air.
If you received a dream catcher you have received an object that represents the 4 elements of life. Earth, Water, Fire and Air, all the things necessary to sustain life. May you have a happy, dreamful life with this dream catcher and good Karma.
Meegwetch
In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher or dream catcher (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider')[1] is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. The dreamcatcher may also include sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally they are often hung over a cradle as protection.[2] It originates in Anishinaabe culture as the 'spider web charm' (Anishinaabe: asubakacin 'net-like', White Earth Band; bwaajige ngwaagan 'dream snare', Curve Lake Band[3]), a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.[2]
Eagle Dream Catcher Tattoo
Dreamcatchers were adopted in the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and gained popularity as a widely marketed 'Native crafts items' in the 1980s. [4]
Ojibwe origin[edit]
Ethnographer Frances Densmore in 1929 recorded an Ojibwe legend according to which the 'spiderwebs' protective charms originate with Spider Woman, known as Asibikaashi; who takes care of the children and the people on the land. As the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children.[2] So the mothers and grandmothers weave webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The purpose of these charms is apotropaic and not explicitly connected with dreams:
Even infants were provided with protective charms. Examples of these are the 'spiderwebs' hung on the hoop of a cradle board. In old times this netting was made of nettle fiber. Two spider webs were usually hung on the hoop, and it was said that they 'caught any harm that might be in the air as a spider's web catches and holds whatever comes in contact with it.'[2]
Basil Johnston, an elder from Neyaashiinigmiing, in his Ojibway Heritage (1976) gives the story of Spider (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, 'little net maker') as a trickster figure catching Snake in his web.[5][clarification needed]
Modern uses[edit]
While Dreamcatchers continue to be used in a traditional manner in their communities and cultures of origin, a derivative form of 'dreamcatchers' were also adopted into the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s as a symbol of unity among the various Native American cultures, or a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures.[4]
The name 'dream catcher' was published in mainstream, non-Native media in the 1970s[6] and became widely known as a 'Native crafts item' by the 1980s,[7]by the early 1990s 'one of the most popular and marketable' ones.[8]
In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation during the Pan-Native movement in the '60s, various types of 'dreamcatchers', many of which bear little resemblance to traditional styles, and that incorporate materials that would not be traditionally used, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New age groups and individuals. Some Native Americans have come to see these 'dreamcatchers' as over-commercialized, like 'sort of the Indian equivalent of a tacky plastic Jesus hanging in your truck,' while others find it a loving tradition or symbol of native unity. [4]
A mounted and framed dreamcatcher is being used as a shared symbol of hope and healing by the Little Thunderbirds Drum and Dance Troupe from the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. In recognition of the shared trauma and loss experienced, both at their school during the Red Lake shootings, and by other students who have survived similar school shootings, they have traveled to other schools to meet with students, share songs and stories, and gift them with the dreamcatcher. The dreamcatcher has now been passed from Red Lake to students at Columbine CO, to Sandy Hook CT, to Marysville WA, to Townville SC, to Parkland FL.[9][10][11]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Free English-Ojibwe dictionary and translator - FREELANG'. www.freelang.net.
- ^ abcdDensmore, Frances (1929, 1979) Chippewa Customs. Minn. Hist. Soc. Press; pg. 113.
- ^Jim Great Elk Waters, View from the Medicine Lodge (2002), p. 111.
- ^ abc'During the pan-Indian movement in the 60's and 70's, Ojibway dreamcatchers started to get popular in other Native American tribes, even those in disparate places like the Cherokee, Lakota, and Navajo.' 'Native American Dream catchers', Native-Languages
- ^John Borrows, 'Foreword' to Françoise Dussart, Sylvie Poirier, Entangled Territorialities: Negotiating Indigenous Lands in australia and Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2017.
- ^'a hoop laced to resemble a cobweb is one of Andrea Petersen's prize possessions. It is a 'dream catcher'—hung over a Chippewa Indian infant's cradle to keep bad dreams from passing through. 'I hope I can help my students become dream catchers,' she says of the 16 children in her class. In a two-room log cabin elementary school on a Chippewa reservation in Grand Portage' The Ladies' Home Journal 94 (1977), p. 14.
- ^'Audrey Speich will be showing Indian Beading, Birch Bark Work, and Quill Work. She will also demonstrate the making of Dream Catchers and Medicine Bags.' The Society Newsletter (1985), p. 31.
- ^Terry Lusty (2001). 'Where did the Ojibwe dream catcher come from? Windspeaker - AMMSA'. www.ammsa.com. Sweetgrass; volume 8, issue 4: The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. p. 19.CS1 maint: location (link)
- ^Marysville School District receives dreamcatcher given to Columbine survivors By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News. Posted on November 7, 2014
- ^'Showing Newtown they're not alone - CNN Video' – via edition.cnn.com.
- ^Dreamcatcher for school shooting survivors (paywall)
Eagle Dream Catcher Drawing
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dreamcatcher. |