The dreamcatcher originates in Anishinaabe culture as the 'spider web charm' - Anishinaabemowin: 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.ĭreamcatchers 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. Traditionally they are hung over a cradle or bed as protection. The dreamcatcher may also include sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher or dream catcher (Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the Anishinaabemowin word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web.
