Singing Hoops/Dreamcatchers

 

 

 

I was told a story by a Blackfoot Elder, about origins of the dreamcatcher.  Here is my understanding of that story to which I hold as truth:

Back in the very beginnings, the tribe made a game out of willow and leather strips that had the same lacing as snowshoes had.  The men had large hoops that they hung from tall branches of trees and the men shot their arrows, or with some larger ones, threw their spears, at the holes between the knots in a game much like darts.  The youth used them in the same way, and little boys got their first bow and arrow training with such hoops.  With the men’s, the women decorated up personally for their man.  When the men were away, the hoops became used as a signal that the man was not at home in the tipi.  The hoops were put beside the door.  The children would cry when their fathers were gone and the women felt vulnerable, so, the women tied the hoop up high in the smoke hole hanging down inside the tipi.  The children were told that having the hoop in the tipi did two things, it smoked the rawhide it was made from, and it became a symbol of protection that helped calm the fears of the children while their father was gone away.  It would capture the children’s fears, they were told and help them sleep better, feeling protected, and, if their fears wakened them with bad dreams, they were told it would catch them as well.   

When the first newcomers came, one of the things they asked was why the hoop was hanging from the smoke hole.  Through translation errors, it became “to catch dreams”. 

The meanings of the dream net of the Ojibwan, were that the children were taught that bad dreams got caught on the web and good dreams fell though onto the child.  In fact, many pf their dream catcher makers will leave one mistaken knot to enhance bad dream catching.  Many now use the smaller dreamcatchers to catch good luck.  The Ojibwan dreamcatchers are typically teardrop-shaped and willow is bent to make the shape.  They are not meant to be kept long and will typically destruct by the time the child enters adulthood at the most.  Their dreamcatchers were small and typically had one feather hanging down from the bottom rim.  Also, the willow was wrapped in leather and the knotting was done in sinew. 

In the 60’s and 70s they became popular with many tribes and other cultures starting making them.  Today they are as common as frybread.  To many of the tribes, it is a sign of unity to have one hanging from the rear-view mirror, for instance.  There are many who do not use them any more, in traditional ways, because they have been made too common. 

Still many of us use the concept of the dream catcher as a symbol of comfort and protection.  It reminds us that Spider Woman, who was once known for creating parts of creation, and was in charge of the world, is symbolized by the hanging of small dreamcatchers on the rear view mirror of our vehicles as a symbol of protection when we travel.   

No matter the hand that makes them, it is the ‘intent’ for making them that counts.  When I make dreamcatchers, I am prayerful and go with intuition as to what materials to use, and how-to put-on additions.  I offered to make friends’ daughter one for one of her Christmas gifts.  I smudged before I made it and I was intent on the young woman I was making it for.  Color, additions;   all have meaning.  Hers has certain totems added into the tying.  The one below is one I made for myself and has the wolf central to the hoop.  Turquoise, to me, is a sacred color of spirit and I am working hard on spirit these days.  The one below mine is the one one of my students (who is ¼ Cherokee) made for himself.  He knows the symbolism now and how to do it by making one out of the largest hula hoop.  His muscles will remember the tying.  I gave him a small hoop to try later when he has better motor control.

I have made many Singing Hoops when I lived in Maine.  Each summer I tied them out in the sixty-foot Pasture Pines.  They danced in the winds and jingled with the movement.  

The repetitive work in making the hoops is meditative.  |There is such peace when I make them.  YouTube has many instructive tutorials on how to make them.  Please remember, if you make them, that the making of the dreamcatchers is a sacred to First Nations and there are some who think making them is cultural appropriation.  Be careful how you make them and with what intent.

©Carol Desjarlais 7.12.20

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUulfZU3AQY