Little treasures III

Do you know a story of a dreamcatcher?

I received one for my birthday many, many years ago from a friend of mine. I enjoyed company of this friend a lot; we talked hours about all sorts of things. He knew what I liked and I knew what he liked. He always gave me presents that I secretly wished for. So, one year I received this dreamcatcher that you can see on the photo. A weird one but one of my little treasures. Actually I had no idea what it was at the beginning (I was a bit ashamed, me, a person who adores Indians), and then he told me a story about this strange object. You can read it here.

When I visited the Wounded Knee site on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 2001, there was a booth with a little Indian girl and an old Indian man in it, selling dreamcatchers. Their webs were of all sorts of shapes but none was like the spider web. That’s why I didn’t like them. Selling them to tourists. We didn’t talk a lot. I felt like a stupid tourist although I was there for quite different reasons than just tick a place on my schedule and move on. I was following a path of Crazy Horse and his people.

So, later, when I had some real sinew, real bird feathers (not those of chicken that you can buy in every craft store), a willow twig and some beads, I made a little dreamcather for somebody I loved. I didn’t take a photo of that one, so I cannot share it with you but I was very satisfied with my work. It was a masterpiece. I hope that it does its good work like mine beside my bed. Allowing only good dreams to filter through and catching the bad dreams which disappear with the light of a day.