He told the aged Lakota man that many forces, both bright and dark would attempt to enter peoples’ dreams and that the dream catcher he was making would catch the bright forces and allow the dark ones to slip away and burn up. Appearing to the leader in the form of a spider, Iktomi made a hoop of willow and spun a web inside of it. “While receiving a spiritual vision high on a mountain, a Lakota leader met Iktomi, a trickster who also held great wisdom. “I will spin you a web that hangs between you and the moon so that when you dream, it will snare the bad thoughts and keep them from you.”Īt this, grandmother smiled and continued to watch the spider spin his web.” When the grandson left, the spider thanked the woman for her protection and offered her a gift. “But grandmother, you should not protect this spider.” “Don’t hurt him,” she told the boy in a soft tone, surprising him. “A grandmother watched patiently each day as a spider spun his web above her sleeping place until one day her grandson noticed the spider and tried to kill it”. The charms would capture any harm surrounding the infant at any time.

Thus, women were placed in charge of weaving the webs alongside placing charms meant to protect the infant. As the Ojibwe started to geographically migrate across all of North America, the task became too large for Asibikaashi to fulfill on her own. Misuse and exploitation of the design is offensive to Indigenous people and dismissive of their value to them.Īsibikaashi was the custodian of all Ojibwe infants and adults. They symbolize oneness and are indicative of Indigenous identity. They can include feathers and beads, and they're traditionally suspended on cradles as a form of armor and protection.Īlthough the tradition began with the Ojibwes, dreamcatchers became widespread within the Native American communities in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the Pan-Indian Movement. The Significance of Dream Catchers Origins of Dream Catchersĭreamcatchers are handmade willow hoops woven to a web or literally, a net.

The origin of dream catchers