The Dream Catcher: A Beautiful Lakota Legend
The dream catcher is a beautiful Lakota legend. The Lakota tribe is partly Sioux and lives on the Missouri River in the United States. These are the same people who were in the movie Dancing with Wolves .
The Lakota tribe has a sacred figure which they call Iktomi. This is the god of wisdom, and the Lakota tribe believes that Iktomy sometimes occurs in human form as a tall man with a face painted in red and white.
For the most part, however, he shows up as a spider. Iktomy is a very wise spider that sometimes says mysterious words and that sometimes plays tricks on people. He knows many stories and sometimes shares them with the mortals. Iktomy taught the Lakota people the legend of the dream catcher.
Many years ago, an old Lakotaman climbed a mountain. Iktomy appeared to the man as a spider and began to speak in a sacred language.
As he spoke, Iktomi took a branch from an old tree and then shaped the branch into a ring. He then found some horsehair and some beautiful feathers. He also had wooden beads and other small, beautiful objects. He then began to weave.
While weaving, he told the old man that life is cyclical. He told the man that there is a beginning and an end. We do not move in a straight line. We start a cycle which we then finish at the beginning of another cycle etc.
The legend of the dream catcher says that Iktomi told the old man that our age also consists of cycles. We begin our lives as very fragile and dependent beings. Slowly but surely we become stronger. We start walking ourselves and then we run and become adults. This makes us more free and capable.
However, we are getting old. We become once again fragile beings who need to be taken care of by others. That is when the last cycle closes and death arrives. The end is reminiscent of the beginning, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again with each person.
Iktomy continued to weave inside the ring while the old Lakota man listened intently to him. He understood that every end is also a beginning. This is the essence of the dream catcher.
Iktomy told the old man that there are many forces acting in different directions in all stages of life. Some are positive and others are negative. These forces can alter the natural harmony of fate. We must therefore be able to identify them because the good do not always look good and the bad do not always seem to be bad.
Iktomy wove the cobweb towards the center. However, he stopped after a while and left a void in the middle. He then told the old man that he would give them the dream walk to help the Lakota people fulfill their dreams and goals by capturing good projects and good ideas. The bad ideas, on the other hand, would disappear through the hole in the middle.
The old man shared the legend of the dream catcher with the others. The Lakota tribe has since used it as a basis for their future. If such a beautiful Lakota legend is used properly, one can use it to look for the truths that will guide us in life.
