Blogpost 5 : Dream Catchers

In Twilight Saga: New Moon. Bella had these bad dreams.( Check my post about Bella’s Dream ) Jacob, Bella’s best friend had a remedy for her, a dream catcher.

            I have read an article by an Unknown author about Twilight Saga : New Moon from ReverseShot. According to the article, a dream catcher is Jacob Black’s 18th birthday present to Bella. 

Jacob is described as a Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. The Quileute tribe is also known as the Quillayute. They settled onto the Quileute Indian Reservation.

Bella hangs it on the headboard of her bed and it is seen in several scenes in the movie. Charlie doesn't think that the dream catcher works as it doesn't keep away the nightmares Bella sees after Edward leaves her.

In the Eclipse film, Riley is seen examining it when he comes to Bella's house to steal objects with her scent on. After Edward realizes that Riley was in the house, he searches Bella's room and smells Riley's scent on it.

In the first part of the Breaking Dawn film, Bella is seen looking at the dream catcher and thinking about the missing Jacob, while packing her room.

            According to the article, "It catches bad dreams, just believe."

I saw some people buy or make dream catchers without knowing the real meaning of them. Some buy dream catchers because they are fab nowadays. But for some, I guess it is just the positive thinking that makes the magic work.

Generally, we are more vulnerable at night when our guard is down and, as a result, bad dreams occur. I have heard about the dream catchers, they are made to wash away bad dreams. I made a research about them if they really woks.

According to the article The Dream Catcher: Respect for the Sacred written by Ralph P. Brown from Fourwinds10 , it was the venerable spider who taught the Indian people the proper way to make and use the dream catcher.

Traditional dream catchers are made from willow picked near the water on a full moon, generally in the spring. The willow is bent into a circle where a web is formed using sinew. Proper dream catchers begin with thirteen tie points, in honor of the thirteen moons of the Indian calendar. It is tied only at night because prayers are made during the tying and the veil between the spirit worlds. Also since the dream catcher works at night, it is imbued with the spirit of the night realm and its helpers.

After the tying of the dream catcher a "prayer tie" or several prayer ties are made. Prayer ties are very powerful and only people who have the proper knowledge should make them. They are charged with positive or negative energy by the person tying them and you could unwittingly cause more harm than good. Both prayer ties and dream catchers should be made by people with this knowledge or under the instruction of such a person.

 Next a feather, bone or some other part belonging to a totem animal is tied to the dream catcher so that its spirit can work with the person. After the dream catcher is tied in this manner it is placed at the head of the sleeping person. During the night, dreams, energies and thought forms other than your own pass through the dream catcher. All of the negative energy is "caught" in the web while the positive is allowed to flow through. In the morning the sun's light transmutes the "dark" into light.

After a year (thirteen moons) the dream catcher should be taken down and burned.

According to the Ralph Brown, "There is a "medicine" that works to protect them in this vulnerable state and it is the dream catcher." 

The dream catcher has today gained popularity to the point of over-saturation. There are dream catcher earrings, key chains and apparel items. Dream catchers are made of any kind of material imaginable. Many tribes now make and sell them as well. Instead of being applied to cradle boards, they are hung as decor on walls. Once considered a sacred item, they now are mass-produced, and few people still believe the original legend behind them.