My Dream Catcher

So I got myself a dream catcher.
A what, you ask?
Allow me to explain.

Dream catcher : Origins

The origins of the dream catcher trace back to the traditions and craftsmanship of the Native Americans, more specifically the Ojibwa nation.

A dream catcher is a protective charm that used to be placed above the cribs and beds of infants and children. It consisted essentially of a hoop filled with an imitation of a spider's web. The original hoop was formed using twigs from the red willow with stalks from the stinging needle as the thread. This would then be finished by decorating it with objects of everyday life - back then, it was feathers, beads et al.


As with everything related to the native Americans, there was a lot of significance attached to each element of their creation.

• The web showed us how we were all connected to each other on this world.
• The feather that moved in the night represented the ever-flowing air that kept us all alive.
• The bead in the middle reminded us of the one creator in the web of life.

Dream Catcher : The Legends

The Ojibwa believed that the night air contained both good dreams and bad. The dream catcher - hanging above your bed as you slept - would trap all the dreams before they reached you. The good dreams being pure and calm knew the way through the web and would slide gently down the feathers and on to you while the turbulent nightmares would get ensnared within the dream catcher's web and be vanquished with the first rays of the morning sun. An alternative version of the Lakota tribe speaks of the converse: how the good dreams get trapped and stay with you while the bad dreams pass through and move on.

My own personal Ojibwa was my fellow blogger, the mystical Zainab of Chimerical Creativity (How cool is it that we are connected to each other by another web, the internet!). After discussing and debating on everything from the number, the size, the colours and the inner designs of the web, she finally made me this real beauty that now hangs above my cradle bed.

Of course, she ain't perfect. I mean she did not agree to some of my awesome suggestions.
I tried convincing her to replace feathers with objects that were more relevant to me - you know, cupcakes, danishes & muffins. I figured even if the muffins fell, they would fall in my mouth so that would be a win-win, right? She called me the dumbest ignoramus she had ever met politely declined. I personally think she was just trying to save on the frosting required for my cupcake dream catcher. Hmmph.

Anyway, you can check out plenty of other designs and models made by her here, including some lovely variations on the dream catcher with earrings, necklaces and keychains.

I personally love my dream catcher and think it lends a lot of character to the room. More than that, I loved the concept behind it - there is something truly mystical and spiritual about an object that stands guard, filtering out the bad and passing on the good dreams to you as you sleep.

And of course, I've only been dreaming of dancing gulab jamuns and shawarmas being served to me by Scarlett Johansson and Alia Bhatt ever since so I know my dream catcher is working just fine.