Nightmares are something that nobody wants to experience, especially at a very young age. The authentic dreamcatcher is completely handmade, with materials that include: Red Willow branches, sinew string, feathers, beads, and leather. The structure is carefully put together, the Red Willow branch bent to make a hoop shape and sinews completely covering the hoop in intricate patterns resembling a spider web. Feathers and beads are hung from the sinews at the bottom of the hoop. The finishing touch, representing its authenticity, is the leather coating placed on the entire structure. Its function is to trap the nightmares in the hoop, and to let good dreams fall through the feathers and onto the child. The way the original cultural symbol looks is hard to picture in one’s head, as only …show more content…
cheap, plastic replicas are sold in stores as well as online. It is important to pay attention to the tribe who created the cultural symbol: the Ojibwa Chippewa, who then passed it onto others.
The Dreamcatcher is a very important part of the Indigenous culture as a whole, as it is a symbol of unity between all tribes. The legend of this cultural piece dates back to stories of a supernatural “Spider Woman” who aided the Ojibwa people, and was a motherly figure to all the children. Eventually, this mysterious woman could no longer take care of the nomadic tribe due to their constant relocation, and therefore created the very first dreamcatcher for them. The origin story is not nearly as popular as the item, which has been constantly appropriated since. It is no question that the Indigenous culture as a whole is often appropriated and mistreated, with others offensively believing they can incorporate the object into their own lives. Dreamcatchers today are constantly used as only a decorative item or a beautiful tattoo by those who do not know the cultural significance and are a part of other ethnic groups. Learning about the significance of this item should be emphasized, as it will prevent others from trying to carelessly adapt it as their
own.
One such group, the Tlingit, used art to create and portray its rights, privileges, and talents inherited to them and became symbols of tribal importance. As they lived in extended family tribal canoe houses, they used art to decorate and empower their tribe in their social structures and often commissioned elaborate artwork in order to create jealousy within the groups. Because the Tlingit culture believed that they were all descendants of animals, the subject matter of most Tlingit art is a highly stylized representation of their ancestor animal. Though religious belief was integrated into Tlingit artwork, it remained an iconographic representation of a tribe’s lineage serving many roles such as power and protection.
The Kwakiutl Indian tribe existed before the discovery of North America by the European culture and inhabited the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the United States and British Columbia in Canada. The tribe is rich in tradition and culture and has remained steadfast in their beliefs, history, teachings and artisan skills which have been passed down generation to generation. The artisans in the Kwakiutl tribe mastered the art of creating special ceremonial masks that are not only beautiful and aesthetically interesting to the eye, but also mechanically intriguing in which the masks serve a specific purpose to a theme during different ceremonies that are conducted by tribal specialists during certain times throughout the year.
In the text “Seeing Red: American Indian Women Speaking about their Religious and Cultural Perspectives” by Inés Talamantez, the author discusses the role of ceremonies and ancestral spirituality in various Native American cultures, and elaborates on the injustices native women face because of their oppressors.
The author, Gloria Ladson-Billings, discusses in her book, "The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children," how African American students perform at lower academic levels in part due to teacher approaches and attitudes. She performed a study on eight teachers of different races and backgrounds and their approaches to teaching African American students. The purpose of the study was to identify what approaches or techniques have been most successful in helping African American students to achieve academic success. She also focuses on the idea of "culturally relevant teaching" and how it can positively impact students when teachers are aware and incorporate a student's culture and backgrounds into the classroom. Throughout the book, the
Gloria Synch specifically has an impact through expressing how she felt about losing native culture traditions and respect. In the late 1800s, potlaching was prohibited and fishing was not allowed in Canada. The Native American group who lived off of Salmon and praticing potlach were oppressed by the Canadian government who outlawed the kwakiutl tradition. The museum of the Native American depicted some of the kwakiutl artifacts as they would appear in a potlach to save the culture. Potlach was the most important tradition of the kwakiutl culture in which is a "ceremony of dance and gift giving that linked culture to the past". Many of the lost culture "treasures" were given to a cultural center named U'Mista which means "the return of something important". The opening of the cultural center imposed feelings of happiness and great sadness from the memory of having the kwakiutl culture stripped from its people for more than 60 years. Gloria Synch and Narrator Vo go on to explain how the artifacts of kwakiutl culture, organized in order of potlach, without glass cases is the representation of freedom of the culture from the hands of "the white man" and safe in a place where people from kwakiutl culture can take care of their own
“Cross” or “sacred fire”, “arrow”, “zigzag”, “bird”, “wave”, “mountains” and “diamondback rattlesnake” all have something in common. What do all of these names have in common? They are all names of Seminole patchwork designs. What exactly is patchworking? It can be defined as the process of sewing pieces of solid colored cloth together to make long rows of designs, which are then joined horizontally to other bands of cloth to form a garment (Downs, 1995, 88). This Native American artwork is closely associated with the Florida Seminoles. The history of this tribe and how they came to make patchwork garments is rather interesting. In making patchwork garments, things to be considered include how it is done (process), what elements of design are used, whom the garment is to be made for and who actually makes it. Presently, there are less artists in this craft and the future of patchwork may be at risk. Seminole patchwork has been done for over a century, and it’s beauty and uniqueness needs to be revealed and recognized by Americans.
“Art can use the power of visual image to challenge and even change popular opinions about important and universal issues. Art can be a very influential way to give a strong, direct comments and criticisms on things that have happened in society and culture.” (Rehab-Mol J, 1998, p6) Indigenous art is mostly about connecting to their land and their religious belief; however, art has different forms, especially the Indigenous contemporary art as it uses ‘modern materials in a mixed cultural context’. (Aboriginal Art Online, 2000)
“Native American Legends.” The Ghost Dance- A Promise of Fulfillment. 2003-Present. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Aboriginal spirituality originally derives from the stories of the dreaming. The dreaming is the knowledge and a sense of belonging that the Aboriginals had of the beginning of life and the relationship to the land and sea (Australian Museum, 2011). The dreaming stories are passed on from one generation to the next orally. These stories teach the following generations how to behave towards the land and other people. The dreaming stories give them a sense of duty to protect the land and appreciate it because the dreamtime stories indicate that the spirits have not died but are still alive in different forms as animals or humans, therefore the ancestor’s power is still felt through the landforms (Clark, 1963), (Australian Governement, 2008)
Doxtator, Deborah. Excerpts from Fluffs and Feathers: An Exhibit on the Symbols of Indianness, A Resource Guide. 1988. Revised edition. Brantford, Ontario: Woodland Cultural Centre, 1992. 12-14. Print.
Fisher, C.J., Byrne, A., Edwards, and Kahn, E. (1970) REM and NREM nightmares. In E. Hartman (ed), Sleep and Dreaming. Boston : Little Brown
The Hopi Indians use art in their everyday life from woven rugs to clay pots. Art is a very important aspect of the tribe’s life and each piece is said to have a story behind it. The Hopi tribe even has dances said to bring luck and prosper to the community. They also have a very unique piece of art that ties directly to their religion, kachinas mask and dolls.
The world is full of people, who aspire to do something great in their life, but then their hopes and dreams are taken away from them and they decide to give up on them which lead them to losing their will of living and pursuing goals. Augusto Cury demonstrates to us that one man can change the outcome of someone’s future life choices. One man can make dreams feel so attainable and achievable. One man can light the last matchstick left in a strangers hope. In “The Dreamseller by Augusto Cury, we are introduced to a man who us seen as a Sage, a man who likes to sell dreams to people and add a simple coma to those trying to put a period to their lives. He brings new hope to the helpless and lost, and proves this by saving a man from committing suicide, giving hope to a lost thief, and encouraging a woman who believes she will never find true love.
If a constant re-evaluation of our childhood dreams is so inherent to their final realization, then why are some of them so difficult to interpret? The mysterious nature of some dreams, along with their connection to the collective unconscious, may hold the answer. Modern Dream Philosophers like Freud suggest that dreams are the window of the unconscious, revealing in symbols our repressed desire for wish fulfilment metaphorically. Jung enhanced this "inner space" theory by suggesting that dreams are the window to the collective unconscious as well, where the unconscious mind is shared with all humanity. That is, the flow of symbols, images and ideas of an ever changing childhood dream world landscape connect us to our real thoughts and feelings, and to the universality of all wish fulfillment. If we used imagery to express this process, then one is referred to Nelly Fertado's "Childhood Dreams" song lyrics: "I am sliding on the rainbow of my childhood dreams" .
Even though dream catchers are a common part of modern society and can be found almost anywhere, whether it is an actual dream catcher or just the image; however, it has not always been this way. Dream catchers are web-like objects developed by Native Americans that are believed to catch bad dreams in their web and allow only the good dreams to flow through making their way to the person sleeping below. But how did this object originally intended to prevent nightmares from occurring reach the state of popularity that it has achieved today? Not only do dream catchers provided a hopeful alternative to the fear suffered through during a nightmare, but each one is a beautiful work of art. The beautiful protectors install a feeling of safety that