African Dream Catcher

1. African Dream Catcher
2. African Dream Catcher Symbols

In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher or dream catcher (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider')^[1] is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. The dreamcatcher may also include sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally they are often hung over a cradle as protection.^[2] It originates in Anishinaabe culture as the 'spider web charm' (Anishinaabe: asubakacin 'net-like', White Earth Band; bwaajige ngwaagan 'dream snare', Curve Lake Band^[3]), a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.^[2]

Step 4: To decorate the dream catcher: Each student will need about 2 feet of string for attaching beads and/or feathers. Cut string into 4 equal pieces and thread the beads or tie the feathers to the ends. Tie these decorate strings to the bottom, sides, and center of the dream catcher. Be sure to attach a hanging loop to the top. Shop online for our dream catchers & bohemian chime collections in South Africa. Colourful, feathers & macrame. Read more about their origin & meaning here.

Dreamcatchers were adopted in the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and gained popularity as a widely marketed 'Native crafts items' in the 1980s. ^[4]

Ojibwe origin[edit]

Ethnographer 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. As the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children.^[2] So the mothers and grandmothers weave webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The purpose of these charms is apotropaic and not explicitly connected with dreams:

Even infants were provided with protective charms. Examples of these are the 'spiderwebs' hung on the hoop of a cradle board. In old times this netting was made of nettle fiber. Two spider webs were usually hung on the hoop, and it was said that they 'caught any harm that might be in the air as a spider's web catches and holds whatever comes in contact with it.'^[2]

Basil Johnston, an elder from Neyaashiinigmiing, in his Ojibway Heritage (1976) gives the story of Spider (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, 'little net maker') as a trickster figure catching Snake in his web.^{[5][clarification needed]}

Modern uses[edit]

While Dreamcatchers continue to be used in a traditional manner in their communities and cultures of origin, a derivative form of 'dreamcatchers' were also adopted into the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s as a symbol of unity among the various Native American cultures, or a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures.^[4]

The name 'dream catcher' was published in mainstream, non-Native media in the 1970s^[6] and became widely known as a 'Native crafts item' by the 1980s,^[7]by the early 1990s 'one of the most popular and marketable' ones.^[8]

In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation during the Pan-Native movement in the '60s, various types of 'dreamcatchers', many of which bear little resemblance to traditional styles, and that incorporate materials that would not be traditionally used, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New age groups and individuals. Some Native Americans have come to see these 'dreamcatchers' as over-commercialized, like 'sort of the Indian equivalent of a tacky plastic Jesus hanging in your truck,' while others find it a loving tradition or symbol of native unity. ^[4]

A mounted and framed dreamcatcher is being used as a shared symbol of hope and healing by the Little Thunderbirds Drum and Dance Troupe from the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. In recognition of the shared trauma and loss experienced, both at their school during the Red Lake shootings, and by other students who have survived similar school shootings, they have traveled to other schools to meet with students, share songs and stories, and gift them with the dreamcatcher. The dreamcatcher has now been passed from Red Lake to students at Columbine CO, to Sandy Hook CT, to Marysville WA, to Townville SC, to Parkland FL.^[9][10][11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Free English-Ojibwe dictionary and translator - FREELANG'. www.freelang.net.
2. ^ ^abcdDensmore, Frances (1929, 1979) Chippewa Customs. Minn. Hist. Soc. Press; pg. 113.
3. ^Jim Great Elk Waters, View from the Medicine Lodge (2002), p. 111.
4. ^ ^abc'During the pan-Indian movement in the 60's and 70's, Ojibway dreamcatchers started to get popular in other Native American tribes, even those in disparate places like the Cherokee, Lakota, and Navajo.' 'Native American Dream catchers', Native-Languages
5. ^John Borrows, 'Foreword' to Françoise Dussart, Sylvie Poirier, Entangled Territorialities: Negotiating Indigenous Lands in australia and Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2017.
6. ^'a hoop laced to resemble a cobweb is one of Andrea Petersen's prize possessions. It is a 'dream catcher'—hung over a Chippewa Indian infant's cradle to keep bad dreams from passing through. 'I hope I can help my students become dream catchers,' she says of the 16 children in her class. In a two-room log cabin elementary school on a Chippewa reservation in Grand Portage' The Ladies' Home Journal 94 (1977), p. 14.
7. ^'Audrey Speich will be showing Indian Beading, Birch Bark Work, and Quill Work. She will also demonstrate the making of Dream Catchers and Medicine Bags.' The Society Newsletter (1985), p. 31.
8. ^Terry Lusty (2001). 'Where did the Ojibwe dream catcher come from? Windspeaker - AMMSA'. www.ammsa.com. Sweetgrass; volume 8, issue 4: The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. p. 19.CS1 maint: location (link)
9. ^Marysville School District receives dreamcatcher given to Columbine survivors By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News. Posted on November 7, 2014
10. ^'Showing Newtown they're not alone - CNN Video' – via edition.cnn.com.
11. ^Dreamcatcher for school shooting survivors (paywall)

External links[edit]

You too can make a difference!

African Dream Catcher

Dreamcatcher volunteers really do make a difference! The communities say so: they feel it, see it and experience it. Likewise our volunteers grow and learn a lot about themselves and about the communities. Together they facilitate change which can impact on a sustainable future. Dreamcatcher volunteers are orientated and inducted into their specific community. They learn about local ways, talents and attributes already in the communities. Matched with knowledge sharing, committed involvement and dialogue they work side by side with the local communities. Collectively they make a difference. A Dreamcatcher volunteer achieves that by going truly local to walk the road with the community. You can do that too!

The best way to get the most out of your time volunteering in South Africa, is to work through an organisation that has a track record built over a period of time and who are situated in the towns and communities where the volunteer projects or the needs are.

The very nature of Dreamcatcher and our volunteer programme is that it must make a difference to the volunteer: critically important however is that it must make a difference to the community or project where they volunteer. If there is no legacy experienced by both the volunteer and the community they volunteer in, no one has reached their goal when they started out with the process, and the status quo remains.

We live and work in the communities every day. We therefor prefer to work directly with the volunteers to make sure that there is a good match and connection between their aspirations and that of the community. By working this way, there is no leakage of information and communication is optimised. Many volunteers therefor come to us directly, either individually or in small focus groups. They may work as a team at times, individually or with another volunteer as the project and outcomes dictate this. Some volunteers may choose to come via a volunteer agency, their university or referrals. If a volunteer chooses to be referred in this way, this is no problem. We do accept the volunteers, but only once we have developed a working relationship with the organisations referring them. In this way the volunteer “channellers” share our ethos: that of measurable impact and legacy at local level. We believe that volunteers who want to share knowledge, gain local knowledge and impact positively, help facilitate sustainable social change -and development. Volunteers who actively seek to make the world a “better place”, commit and understand this. Then they roll up their sleeves with us, get mud on their shoes, at times take a back seat to local knowledge and help that knowledge to develop with their input. They get the job of outcomes based volunteering done.

Dreamcatcher was founded over 20 years ago with a aim to make a difference to the many people of all ages, living in abject poverty and a lack of skills to improve their quality life in communities where they live. We have never changed focus. Starting out before Apartheid was dismantled, finding South African volunteers with the means to assist us to alleviate the hardship was virtually impossible! But for a hand full of senior citizens who wanted to make a difference before they passed on, recruited in the community where our founder started out, we had no one to roll up their sleeves, stay in the communities and join us to help those in dire need. Our founder would not accept that the status quo should continue so, in consultation with the community, we worked locally, but reached out globally to the many friends and contacts we had and found, to join us to make a difference. That was over 2 decades ago.

It is thus fair to say that Dreamcatcher is not an arms length “volunteer” business. We don’t do “community development by remote” in a “hit-and-miss” fashion. We don’t “do” volunteering as a business venture. Dreamcatcher was founded to make a difference to strengthen the communities who were suffering extreme hardship due to the political system, the aftermath of which still resonates daily in communities across South Africa. Volunteering the Dreamcatcher community engagement way, ensures that leakage is minimized in terms of economic benefits. 90% of the money a volunteer contributes in terms of their accommodation, meals, transport and project is channeled directly into the community in various measurable ways. Money circulating in a community addresses the leakage and the local economy and growth is the result.

African Dream Catcher Symbols

Any resources and residual funds left in our bank account which is stringently audited, after paying necessary administrative costs and insurances for the local entrepreneurs, are ploughed back directly into our community development projects. Dreamcatcher is also not funded or subsidised by government or local authorities. The contributions from volunteers are channeled to projects in need and are carefully tracked. The Kamamma (community mothers’) accommodation and meal providers, put the money they generate from their services, back into their local economy, their children and their quality of life. This is part of our poverty relief focus and each volunteer thus contributes directly to the local community economy.

We live and work in the communities where volunteers go. We see our volunteers as an extended part of our Dreamcatcher family, where we work side by side to make a difference that counts. We thus have “walked the talk” and have credibility in the communities. The founder of Dreamcatcher is still a volunteer after over 2 decades and we are well known in all the many communities and over 100 projects across the country.

Volunteer postcards

We can think of no higher recommendation or delivery than that which is reflected in the stories from some of the many volunteers who have joined us and are proud of it! Likewise the reports of the impact of volunteers in the community are actively sought by us at regular community meetings and our impact is tracked. Please click and read their stories. Hopefully you too will honour us with a story of your volunteering time with us soon ☺.

You can read the postcards from other people who already volunteered with Dreamcatcher:

• Alex Pike – United Kingdom (after ten years the memories are still alive)

What kind of work can you do?

We have different kinds of projects and work in the communities. Here is an overview of the possible projects you can take part in. We can use any help we can get!

We do assist volunteers to get to know the country and its many attributes. We do that by helping them to travel and enjoy South Africa like a local. To experience the beauty, diversity and nature before or after they have volunteered with us or over weekends. Leisure time is not part of the volunteer activity. However it does not mean volunteers do not have fun! Many report that they have laughed more with the community whilst working alongside them, and learned more about the country, than ever before on a trip. Here is some more information about the volunteering program.

Project fees

Here is an overview of the project fees – what’s included and what’s not included.

More information

Here is a list of more practical information about volunteering:

If you seriously think about volunteering you might have some more questions. We have put the questions that are being asked more often in a frequently asked question list.

Interested?

If you are interested, have more questions or want us to set up a volunteering trip for you please contact us. You can contact us using the contact form or send us a travel request form so we can provide you with an amazing experience. You too can make a difference, for the people of South Africa but also for yourself.