Dream Catcher
Once upon a time, when I was browsing through the Internet, I have discovered a rather odd object made of beads, the purpose of which had been a puzzle for me for a long time.
Outwardly it looked like a souvenir of the sealed purpose, resembling a useless panel for interior decoration. This is exactly what I thought when I saw this small wonderwork for the first time.
“The Dream Catcher” – is the name of this mysterious and ancient religious object of the North American Indians, which is claimed to possess unique magic power. It was surprising to find out that it is very popular among the modern Americans!
What is it? And what kind of mysterious power possesses the “dream catcher”?
 Imagine a neat spider web with a hole in the center which is situated inside the band decorated by pendants, wooden beads, pearls, and necessarily by one, three or seven feathers. This is exactly how the dream catcher looks like.
If the spider web's function is to catch the aggravating insects, then you don't need to have much imagination to transform it into a catch for some other invisible or imaginary beings. The ancient tribes of North American Indians had similar idea.
The dream catcher is usually hanged above the bed's head. It swings freely in the air, catching dreams which are passing by. It works at the principle of the spider web: bad dreams are knotted in it and are later destroyed by the first sun beams in the morning; the good ones, knowing their way, get to the center and stay there in the bird furthers to be seen again next night.
There is another version of the dream catchers' work. According to the conception of the Indian tribe Lakota everything happens on the contrary – the web is necessary to keep good dreams, and the bed dreams fly away through the hole in it. Well, choose the theory, which you like most, and proceed to the experiment!
The legend
But first I'll tell you a story about how the dream catcher appeared. According to one old legend the ancient of the Indian tribe Lakota ascended a mountain, and there he had a dream, in which an ancient teacher of wisdom appeared to him as a spider. While they were talking the spider bended a branch of the old osier into a circle, decorated it by the birds further, and started to weave a web around it.
He was saying that that osier circle symbolizes a circle of man's life: a baby is born, it grows up, becomes an adult… Then he starts to get old a starts taking care of new babies. Thus the circle is closed. The bend of osier also symbolizes the life way of a man.
Saying this, the spider continued to weave his web, and only in its center remained a hole. Then the spider said:
“There are many roads along which lead a man – each chooses his own way. And in each moment of man's life he is possessed with some desires. If they are good – they lead him in the right direction, but if they are evil – the man chooses the wrong way. A web – is a perfect circle, but there is a hole in the center. Now it will help you to catch good thoughts and reach the right aim, and bed thoughts will go away through this hole.”
Since then the Indians of that tribe started to weave symbolic catchers of the web.
How to make a dream catcher?
Traditionally the dream catcher was made from the osier and deer's sinews. Can you make similar catcher at home by yourself? Of course! Take an osier of a grape-vine about 1 meter long and soaked beforehand. The osier (vine) is cut in late autumn, in winter or even in early spring in order that it is flexible. It is important to cut it before the buds swell. Bend the osier several times into a ring around the bucket turned upside down, or around another suitable object. The band has to be 22 cm in diameter. The ready ring, as a rule, is braided round with a thin wet leather or sued ribbon (about 0,5 cm wide). If you don't have an osier on deck, you can take wooden tambour for embroidery instead. Our “web” will be inside the tambour.
The web is weaved almost the same as the fisherman net. It is easy to do with the help of a small shuttle. First, the thread is winded on a circle, as shown on the picture. Then you start to weave the second circle, connecting by the knots it to each loop of the previous row until all the inside space of the band is covered with web. A hole will remain in the center of the web. When the web is ready, attach feathers to it – owl's feather is a symbol of wisdom, the eagle's feather brings courage. You can decorate the dream catcher according to the call of your imagination. It's better to do it using natural materials – pearls, shells, semi-precious stones, wooden beads, which are put on a thread and then are weaved into the web. According to the tradition, the dream catcher has to be decorated by feathers. The owl's feather is a symbol of wisdom, the eagle's feather is a symbol of strength. Each Indian tribe has its own traditions, that's why their catchers don't look the same. Sometimes they correspond to a design of many small catchers, suspended to a big catcher by cords.
Let the dream catcher hang above your bed, swinging at your home draught, screening your dreams, banishing all the bads from your house and filling your life with joy and comfort. Enjoy sweet and happy dreams! Why not try it? What if it helps?
Of course, a man who goes to his job taking the same route every day, probably doesn't have time to think how many mysteries there are in our world, and will take regular story with a grain of salt. Nevertheless anti-gravitation exists, reincarnation - is a fact proved long ago, aliens can now be seen on the photographs, and the Voodoo priests raise people from the dead! Why not assume that the “dream catcher”, which has been used for many centuries in the culture of ancient Indian tribes, is not just a beautiful fairy-tale, but is a fraction of the priceless experience of our ancestors, which was preserved to our days.
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