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Dreamcatchers and Dreams
Dreams have played a central and determinative role in the formation
of the religious and spiritual worlds of most Native American groups.
As early as 1623, dreams were recorded among the Hurons by the French
Catholic Recollect brother Gabriel Sagard. These accounts were then
expanded by the writings of the Jesuit priest Jean de Br?beuf, who
lived with the Hurons around Georgian Bay (1634-36). According to
these writings, young Huron and Iroquois men would fast for extended
periods, either in a partitioned rear section of their longhouse
or in a specially made shelter. These fasts could last as long as
thirty days and were undertaken so that the young men would have
a vision or powerful dream that would enhance their abilities in
hunting, warfare, or healing. The records of Br?beuf also include
dramatic accounts of dreams and visions that came spontaneously
to women and played a role in determining those women's participation
in various ceremonial rites.
If the dreamer was successful, he would obtain a vision of a dream
spirit who would give him a specific ability or power and show him
how to solicit that power through special songs and ritual activities.
Among most native groups, the dream spirit would then become a lifelong
protector and helper whose aid and abilities could be solicited
through prayer and tobacco offerings. In dreams, the dreaming soul?that
aspect of self that travels in visions away from the body?could
contact the dream spirit and receive instructions. Dreams were considered
by many native groups to be the most valid means for communicating
with the spiritual powers and the primary basis of religious knowledge.
Advanced dreamers who became religious specialists would interpret
dreams in order to diagnose illness, foretell the death or return
to health of the sick, predict the outcome of expeditions in hunting
and warfare, as well as which objects could be substituted for those
things appearing in dreams which were difficult or impossible to
procure for carrying out dream induced rituals.
Many ceremonies were attributed to dream origins. Foundational
dreams would be transmitted through kinship groups, who held an
exclusive knowledge of the dream and of the correct ritual for its
enactment. The dream was usually owned by the head of the family
and passed on through special ceremonial rites. However, additional
dreams, especially by those who were recognized religious leaders,
could modify and change the ceremonial patterns. A unique aspect
of the Iroquois dreaming traditions was the dream-guessing feast,
when dreamers would join together and go from longhouse to longhouse
in entranced states induced by their dream spirits. Handling red-hot
coals and dancing and singing, each dreamer would ask that his or
her "dream desire," narrated in the form of a riddle,
be guessed by other members of the longhouse. When the riddle had
been correctly solved, gifts would be given to the dreamer to satisfy
the dream desire. A failure to receive the correct gifts could indicate
the coming death of the dreamer.
Southeastern sources clearly show the centrality of dreaming in
the religious worlds of most native groups in that region. Dreams
were actively sought, both in regular sleep and in special fasting,
and the songs and powers given through them became an intrinsic
feature of the social and religious life of the dreamer. Dreams
revealed the existence of a spirit world that had continuity with
and similarity to the world of the living and that could be visited
through dreams. Among the Choctaws, Creeks, and Cherokees, certain
dreamers could travel to a village of the dead and there converse
with their former relatives. Dreaming thus gave an experiential
confirmation of the existence of other worlds, including that of
the dead. Among the Cherokees, dream interpreters would seek out
the "seat of pain" for those who were ill by asking them
extensive questions about their dreams ranging back over months
and sometimes over a period of years. Dream typologies were developed
by means of which particular types of animals, actions, or various
other dream images were given specific meanings and used diagnostically
to predict future events or indicate cures that would bring the
dreamer back into harmony with the dream spirits. The creation of
the Cherokee syllabary by Sequoyah allowed many of the Cherokee
spiritual leaders to record in the indigenous language a variety
of formulaic prayers and ritual songs?most of which originated in
dreams that had been passed on through oral tradition until they
were written down by native practitioners in the old Cherokee language.
The most well known dreaming practices are those of the native
peoples of the Great Plains. With her research, conducted in the
1920s, Ruth Benedict set the stage for interpreting Plains dreaming
as the primary means by which a particular group reinforced its
"culture pattern." Dreams were seen as stereotypical in
reproducing similar content that supported the religious worldview
of the dreamer. However, alternative research later done by many
native ethnographers showed clearly that dreaming was not stereotypical,
that every dream had many unique and divergent qualities, and that
no two dreams were ever identical. The distinction between dreams
and visions was not considered significant; the primary criteria
for evaluating the sacred power of a dream or vision depended upon
the degree to which the subject could reproduce a visible, positive
result as a consequence of his or her following either a dream had
while sleeping or a waking vision attained while fasting or praying.
Only those dreams or visions that resulted in a direct manifestation
of power were considered sacred.
On the Plains, dreams were acquired in two basic ways: either they
came spontaneously or they were sought ritually. A majority of the
dreams and visions collected in the ethnography were spontaneous;
acquired without conscious effort, they nevertheless made a lasting
and lifelong impression on the dreamer. Spontaneous dreams were
common for women under specific circumstances, such as during times
of mourning for the recent dead, when Plains women would often slash
their legs and arms and wander away from camp crying to the sacred
powers. Domestic quarrels and conflicts among close kin groups could
also result in a woman's wandering away from camp and then having
a remarkable visionary experience. Women who were captured by enemy
warriors and later escaped to wander over the plains for many days
without food, seeking their home tribe, often had visions. Dreams
also came unsought during periods of illness. Such was the case
with the famous dream of the Oglala Sioux holy man Black Elk, which
occurred to him in 1872 at the age of nine.
The more structured vision quest or dream fast was usually undertaken
by Plains men, and sometimes women, during adolescence, but it was
sometimes repeated among certain groups throughout life. Young men
went to experienced elders, usually relatives, to receive instructions
for carrying out a proper dream fast. They would undergo various
purification rites and then go to a nearby hill, on the top of which
they would either make a circle within which they remained or dig
a pit in which they stayed throughout the fast. Dressed in a minimum
of clothing, with long hair unbraided, carrying only a pipe and
a robe, they would pray continually to the holy powers to grant
them a powerful dream. After as many as ten days of fasting, a successful
dreamer might come down from the hill and relate his dream to elders
in a sweat lodge. Or he might wait a specific number of days before
approaching a leader of a dream society, whose members held rituals
related to a particular dream spirit, like the buffalo or bear,
and ask to join the dream society based on his successful vision.
Successful dreams were enacted, and the power of the dream had
to be demonstrated for the dream to be accepted as an authentic
gift from the dream spirits. Successful dreamers were expected to
demonstrate remarkable or powerful abilities as a sign of a power-granting
dream. Dreamers used a variety of objects to hold the power given
to them in the dream, and would paint themselves and their horses
according to dream experiences. The dream objects were kept within
sacred bundles, which were unwrapped only under ritual circumstances,
during which the dream was often narrated. In using the dream objects,
dream songs were sung; these songs epitomized the heart of the dream
recreation. Dream images were painted on tipis, robes, and other
gear to empower those objects. Women would use dream images as a
source for designs in crafts as well as in quill and bead work and
other types of clothing ornamentation. The designs of the famous
Ghost Dance shirts used during the religious revival that began
in the 1890s were all said to have originated in visionary dreams.
In Plains culture, dreams were central and a primary means for innovation
and change in religious and social practices.
Dreams played a powerful social role among Northwest Coast peoples
as well as among many Inuit groups. Franz Boas (1925) collected
an entire volume of Kwakiutl dreams, showing the rich and complex
dream symbolism that completely pervaded the Kwakiutl spiritual
world. Sometimes a dream spirit would embed a dream crystal?a valuable
source of power?in the body of the dreamer. The possession of such
a crystal was a sign of a dreamer's initiation into advanced dreaming
practices. Many flying dreams have been recorded; they signify the
dreamer's ability to explore hidden dimensions of the religious
cosmology. Dreams among Northwest Coast peoples as well as subarctic
peoples indicate a strong belief in reincarnation. Many dreamers
have claimed to know about their past lives through dream experiences,
and there are records of women who dreamed of giving birth to someone
who had recently died in the community. Certain dream spirits might
send negative or frightening dreams, such as Stimsila among the
Bella Coolas. On the other hand, certain dream spirits were regarded
as protectors and accompanied the dreamer throughout life, revealing
in dreams future events, matters pertaining to secret societies,
and other critical life experiences.
Among the Pueblos, Navajos, and Apaches of the American Southwest,
dreams were of much less significance. The highly structured ritual
life of the Pueblo people and the complex healing rites of the Navajos
did not normally allow for innovation through dreams. Traditional
knowledge was transmitted through learning the rites and songs of
the ceremonies and not through dreaming practices. Dorothy Eggan
(1949) collected Hopi dreams and noted how they function in a personal
way for the dreamer. But, she found, they are not usually connected
to religious sanctions, nor are they considered necessary for becoming
a participant in communal rites. However, Hopis evaluate dreams
as either good or bad and take appropriate actions to counteract
the effects of negative dreams. Among the Zunis, dreams are also
evaluated, and only bad dreams are shared. For the Navajos, dreams
may determine what type of diagnostician the dreamer may become,
and they play a role in determining the causes of illness.
Lee Irwin
Mohawk-Delaware Ancestry
College of Charleston
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