Chippewa Dream Catcher

• Chippewa Dream Catcher
• Dream Catcher Meaning Symbolism
• Chippewa Dream Catcher Legends
• Chippewa Dream Catcher
• Authentic Chippewa Dream Catchers

2018 Mesa Grande Chippewa Dream Catcher with Handmade Filigree 1 Ounce (oz) .999 Silver Proof Coin in OGP

The dreamcatcher filters out the bad dreams and allows only good thoughts to enter into our minds when we are asleep. A small hope in the center of the dreamcatcher is where the good dreams come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams will perish.

With a mintage of just 1,500, this coin is issued by the Mesa Grande tribe, who are officially recognized as a sovereign nation by the United States government and legally authorized to produce commemorative coins.

Dream Catcher Native American

The Ojibwe originated the dream catcher, though over time many Native American tribes have adopted it. Indians use it as a form of identification or unity and believe that the dream catcher helps to filter out bad dreams and let through good dreams.

The colorized reverse of the coin depicts a sunset over a Native Indian settlement with silver feathers and canoeists on a lake. Within an opening of the coin, a handmade silver filigree making a dreamcatcher can be found. Artists take lengths of incredibly fine silver and manipulate them to create individually detailed pieces to insert. The obverse then features an eagle and stars with radial lines coming out of the filigree insert then the words 'ONE DOLLAR SOVEREIGN NATION AMERICA 2018 MESA GRANDE' appears around the edge.

The $1 face value coin will arrive in a black box with certificate of authenticity. Mintage is limited to just 1,500 and these coins are of the initial 500 struck.

• The dream catcher web catches the bad dreams during the night and dispose of them when the day comes. As for the good dreams, the feathers act as a fluffy, pillow-like ladder that allows them to.
• A Chippewa Legend A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother. Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away.

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Ten years ago one of the most popular and marketable Native crafts items was the dream catcher.

It is still popular, as evidenced by a Jan. 29-31 workshop at the Alberta Aboriginal Head Start conference in Edmonton. It was run by Bev Longboat, the executive director at the Niwasa (Little Ones) Head Start Program at Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ont., and by Alice Noah, originally from Walpole Island, Ont., but now living in Fort McMurray.

As the legend goes, according to Longboat, 'there was a very special woman who was responsible for the children. Her name was Spider Woman, a name likely given as was customary in Indian tradition.

'Her job,' said Longboat, 'was to web these dream catchers and hang them above a baby's cradle board while the infant was sleeping. As its popularity increased, however, it proved too much for Spider Woman to take on because she could not travel from one location to another and try to look after all of the children.

Chippewa Dream Catcher

'So, at that time, she passed the webbing (technique) down to the aunties, grandmothers and the mothers, to look after the webbing for the children and the young.'

The dream catchers were made of willow.

'The little opening at the centre of the web allowed the good dreams to pass through and filter down through the feather(s) hanging from the dream catcher, and into the dreaming minds of the children. It was another stage of life that a child went through,' explained Longboat.

In constructing the dream catcher, she continued, 'significant was the number of points where the sinew was wrapped around the willow.

'In the original story,' she stated, 'there were eight points for her eight legs. Still others used seven points for the seven grandfathers or the seven prophecies. Some used five for the five sky shapes, some have used 13 as signifying the moons and some used 28 for the lunar months.'

As for the shape of the original dream catcher, 'it was made in a circle ? a representation of the sun that travels across the earth.'

Dream Catcher Meaning Symbolism

But, it's not uncommon to find them in a tear shape.

'The traditional dream catcher,' she added, 'was between three-and-a-half and five inches in diameter. Any larger, it loses its significance, its traditional value or you could say, the power of the dream catcher itself.'

Over time, things about the dream catcher have changed. Things were added to it.

Noah mentions the significance of the three beads that were woven into a dream catcher. 'The three beads stand for our three fires ? the Potowotami, Ottawa and Chippewa Nations. So, when I do crafts, I put three of them on my work.'

While the number of feathers attached to a dream catcher may vary, some crafts people only use one to symbolize knowledge or wisdom.

'It's entirely up to you on how many you add on,' said Longboat. 'Just about everything you put on there has a significance, depending on the person doing the webbing.'

Chippewa Dream Catcher Legends

Chippewa Dream Catcher

But before picking any willow(s), one should make a tobacco or cloth offering to the spirit world.

Authentic Chippewa Dream Catchers

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