A dreamcatcher is a
magical Native American device, made in a
spiderweb-pattern around a
circular wooden hoop.
The Legend of the Dreamcatcher involves an old
grandmother, her rash and impetuous
grandson, and a
magical spider. The grandmother,
Nokomis had been watching ths spider for days as he spun his web next to her bed. One day, her grandson,
No-keegwa came into the room as she was watching the spider, and stomped over,
shoe in hand, to smash it. Nokomis stopped him, protecting the
defenseless the spider, and, in return, the spider offered her a gift.
"Soon the
moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" he said. "See and learn, for each web will snare
bad dreams. Only
good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web."