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Dreamcatchers
While dreamcatchers originated in the Ojibwa Nation, during the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different Nations. They came to be seen by some as a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and as a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. However, some Native Americans have come to see them as "tacky" and over-commercialized due to their acceptance in popular culture. Traditionally, the Ojibwa construct dreamcatchers by tying sinew strands in a web around a small round or tear-shaped frame of willow (in a way roughly similar to their method for making snowshoe webbing). The resulting "dream-catcher", hung above the bed, is then used as a charm to protect sleeping children from nightmares. Dreamcatchers made of willow and sinew are not meant to last forever but instead are intended to dry out and collapse over time as the child enters the age of adulthood. The Ojibwa believe that a dreamcatcher changes a person's dreams. According to Terri J. Andrews [in the article "Living by the Dream," about the Ojibwa nation in the magazine World & I, Nov. 1998, page 204], "Only good dreams would be allowed to filter through . . . Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day." It is recommended to hang the dreamcatcher above someone sleeping to guard against bad dreams. Good dreams pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper. Another legend tells us "Good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person. The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher
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