Research and Articles

Research & Articles: Chippewa Dream Catcher

Marilyn Lopes
Extension Specialist, Family Life Education
Cape Cod Cooperative Extension
University of Massachusetts

The Chippewa, and other Native Americans like the Cherokee, believe good and bad dreams float around at night. They make a dream catcher out of a wood hoop with a web and feathers that hangs above the bed of a newborn baby or a newly married couple. The bad dreams get tangled in the web and disappear when the sun comes up. The good dreams float through the web, down the feather, and onto the sleeping person in bed. Some Chippewa women still make dream catchers.

MATERIALS:

- White paper plate, 9"
- Yarn, about 12"
- Beads, store bought or homemade beads
- Feather
- Masking tape, pencil, scissors, hole punch

STEPS:

1. Draw a large ring inside the rim of a paper plate.

2. Cut out the center of the plate to the inner edge of ring. Then, cut off the outside rim of the plate, leaving the ring.

3. Punch about 16 holes around the ring.

4. Wrap masking tape around one end of the yarn. Poke the taped end of the yarn into the top hole and pull through, leaving about 3" at the end.

5. Begin creating a web by crisscrossing the yarn to fill up all the holes around the ring. Leave the center of the web open.

6. End by bringing the taped end of the yarn back to the top hole and tying this to the other end.

7. Cut a piece of yarn about 8" long. Loop it through the bottom hole and even the ends. Pass several beads up the yarn, and slip a feather into the beads. Knot the ends of the yarn.

8. Hang over your bed.

DOCUMENT USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the National Extension Service Children Youth and Family Educational Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce these materials in whole or in part for educational purposes only (not for profit beyond the cost of reproduction) provided that the author and Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is included:

Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. (1993). Chippewa dream catcher. In M. Lopes (Ed.) CareGiver News (November, insert). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension.

Any additions or changes to these materials must be preapproved by the author.

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