Ojibwe origin 'Spider web' charm, hung on infant's cradle (shown alongside a 'Mask used in game' and 'Ghost leg, to frighten children'), Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin (1929)Įthnographer 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. ĭream 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. It originates in Anishinaabe culture as 'the spider web charm' – asubakacin 'net-like' ( White Earth Nation) bwaajige ngwaagan 'dream snare' ( Curve Lake First Nation) – a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.
Traditionally, dreamcatchers are hung over a cradle or bed as protection. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. For other uses, see Dreamcatcher (disambiguation).Īn ornate, contemporary, nontraditional dreamcatcher This article is about the Native American object.
