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Dreamcatchers
Dreamcatchers are a Native American item. It is normally a ring of something (I use metal rings from a craft store) which has a "web" put in, not unlike a spider's web. It is then adorned with things like leather, feathers, teeth, bones, beads, etc. I tell people to add whatever appeals to them on the web. It was hung in sleeping areas (especially small children & babies) to catch all the dreams in the web. The good dreams could pass through the web to the sleeper, but the bad dreams would become trapped in the webbing & be burned up in the morning rays of the sun. I'm sure Autumn or someone could describe it better, I'm really bad with descriptions. If you go to eBay & search for dreamcatchers, you will see quite a variety of beautiful pieces. Mandellas are similar to dreamcatchers.
I am currently working on a deer skull with a huge rack. When I am done webbing the rack, I will be adding white sage, sweetgrass wreaths, hawk & crow feathers, an otter skin face, etc. for my youngest son to hang in his room. He has very bad nightmares & he believes the bad dreams will disappear in the web & he sleeps much better since we told him this.
Hope this helps a little!
Karen D.
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You do well with your Native American knowledge, there not really much else to explain except what I have been taught, each tribe has there own varations to the dream catcher depending on there cultural beleifs. In the old days articles representing spider webs were usually hung from the hoop of a child's cradle board, and it was said that they catch and hold everything evil as a spider's web catches and holds everything that comes into contact with it. The dream catchers were wooden hoops with a 3 1/2 in. diameter, filled with a web made of nettle-stalk cord that was dyed red with bloodroot and wild plum inner bark.
It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) & the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather).
Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It's suppose to happen to show us that our youth dosen't last forever. I hope this helps, like I said it is only what I have been taught and you have a very good understanding of what the dreamcatcher means. I have three very beautiful ones that hang in my living room that were gifts to me. I used to have one hang above my bed but since moving I have completly furnished my living room with things from my tribe and Native American gifts that were given to me. My father carves totem poles and walking sticks and he made me a walking stick and it is made to mark the milestones in my life as well as have my future also careved into it. I also have a clock a wodden frame that my father carved and eagle in the center and a Native American cheif above the eagle in full headdress.
I hope this is usefull to you.
Love & Happiness
Autumn
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I think it was Karen who was asking about the feather and there meaning on dream catchers. In my last reply to her I forgot to add something my father had told me about the meaning of eagle feathers.=20
The great eagle is the favorite bird of the Great Spirit. The eagle feather is divided into two parts, part light, and part dark. This represents daylight and darkness, summer and winter, peace and war, and life and death. So that you may remember look to the eagle feathers, they tell you the story of life.
Love & Happiness
Autumn
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To add to Autumn's wonderful meaning, from yet the Shoshone Culture the eagle is symbolic of material and spiritual. The golden of the Spritual and the Bald of the Material.
Warmly,
Fran