Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Culture: The Legend of the Dream Catcher
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The Legend of the Dream Catcher
The Legend of the Dream Catcher
Long ago when the world was young, an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a vision. In his
vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to him in
a sacred language that only the spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand.
As he spoke, Iktomi the spider picked up the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horsehair, beads, and offerings on it, and began to spin a web. He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life, how we begin our life as infants, and how we move on through childhood, onto adulthood, and finally, onto old age, where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle.
"But," Iktomi said as he continue to spin his web, "in each time of life, there are many forces, some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But if you listen to the bad forces, they will steer you in the wrong direction and may hurt you. So these forces can help, or they can interfere with the harmony of Nature, and with the Great Spirit."
While the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web. When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the elder the web and said, "The web is a perfect circle, but there is a hole in the center. Use the web to help your people reach their goals, making good use of your people's ideas, dreams, and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas and the bad ones will go through the hole."
The elder passed on his vision to the people, and now many Indian people hang a dream catcher above their bed to sift their dreams and visions, and use the dream catcher as the web of their life. The good in their dreams are captured in the web and carried with them, but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them...
It is said that the dream catcher holds the destiny of the future...