Post by Okwes on Apr 18, 2007 14:13:13 GMT -5
Students' dreams caught by 'Center'
Jennifer Straley
Media Credit: Bounyoo Philavanh
First-year SCSU student Ritesh Shrestha's holds his completed dream catcher as instructor Devyn Holubar ties the string to make the hanger.
The American Indian Center had a full house Saturday morning. About 32 people showed up to learn how to make dream catchers.
The program was taught by SCSU student A.E. Devyn Holubar and Tim Kennedy, who is Holubar's brother in-law.
The people who attended got a little more than a lesson in making dream catchers. They got to hear about some American Indian traditions that go along with making them and what tradition says one is supposed to do with them.
The first thing Holubar said to the group was what a dream catcher is and how it works.
Dream catchers can be made from a lot of different materials.The outside hoop could be made of branches from a tree or a metal ring, like the ones that the attendees used. The webbing is made with a fine string-like material called sinew.
According to legend, the hole in the center of a dream catcher is where the good dreams are allowed to go through.
The rest of the webbed center is there to keep the bad dreams out.
"You must hang your dream catcher at the head of your bed, where it can be touched by the first morning sun,"Holubar said.
This is so that all the bad dreams will be evaporated as if they were drops of early morning dew on a spider web.
"Anytime that you make something for the first time, you must give it away," Holubar said. "In Native American culture, it is not about what you receive, but what you give."
In many American Indian cultures, giving is more important than receiving, whether it be a drum or a dream catcher.
"You must allow for imperfection," Holubar said. "If you are a perfectionist, making a dream catcher will teach you how to let it go."
Imperfections in a dream catcher are what make each one unique.
All the attendees' dream catchers looked similar; however, they all had something different.
One girl had gotten her sinew in a terrible knot, but she got it out the best she could and kept going.
That little imperfection made her dream catcher unique as well as her experience making it.
During one point in the demonstration, when Kennedy was showing the group how to make the second row of webbing, the group let out a few nervous laughs because he made a difficult process look easy.
Kennedy used a large hoola-hoop and thicker leather straps to demonstrate how to make the webbed center of the dream catcher.
One attendee, Nick Adey said, "I am glad that a lot of people showed up."
Adey said he learned about the program from two of his professors.
"I never knew that Native American tradition says that the first time you make something you have to give it away," Adey said.
Tess Simon said she would tell others to come to events hosted by the American Indian Center.
"I learned a lot about Native American culture and the traditions behind dream catchers," Simon said
For more information about an event like the dream catcher class, one can get more information by visiting the AIC Web site, www.stcloudstate.edu/aic and click on events and publications.
Jennifer Straley
Media Credit: Bounyoo Philavanh
First-year SCSU student Ritesh Shrestha's holds his completed dream catcher as instructor Devyn Holubar ties the string to make the hanger.
The American Indian Center had a full house Saturday morning. About 32 people showed up to learn how to make dream catchers.
The program was taught by SCSU student A.E. Devyn Holubar and Tim Kennedy, who is Holubar's brother in-law.
The people who attended got a little more than a lesson in making dream catchers. They got to hear about some American Indian traditions that go along with making them and what tradition says one is supposed to do with them.
The first thing Holubar said to the group was what a dream catcher is and how it works.
Dream catchers can be made from a lot of different materials.The outside hoop could be made of branches from a tree or a metal ring, like the ones that the attendees used. The webbing is made with a fine string-like material called sinew.
According to legend, the hole in the center of a dream catcher is where the good dreams are allowed to go through.
The rest of the webbed center is there to keep the bad dreams out.
"You must hang your dream catcher at the head of your bed, where it can be touched by the first morning sun,"Holubar said.
This is so that all the bad dreams will be evaporated as if they were drops of early morning dew on a spider web.
"Anytime that you make something for the first time, you must give it away," Holubar said. "In Native American culture, it is not about what you receive, but what you give."
In many American Indian cultures, giving is more important than receiving, whether it be a drum or a dream catcher.
"You must allow for imperfection," Holubar said. "If you are a perfectionist, making a dream catcher will teach you how to let it go."
Imperfections in a dream catcher are what make each one unique.
All the attendees' dream catchers looked similar; however, they all had something different.
One girl had gotten her sinew in a terrible knot, but she got it out the best she could and kept going.
That little imperfection made her dream catcher unique as well as her experience making it.
During one point in the demonstration, when Kennedy was showing the group how to make the second row of webbing, the group let out a few nervous laughs because he made a difficult process look easy.
Kennedy used a large hoola-hoop and thicker leather straps to demonstrate how to make the webbed center of the dream catcher.
One attendee, Nick Adey said, "I am glad that a lot of people showed up."
Adey said he learned about the program from two of his professors.
"I never knew that Native American tradition says that the first time you make something you have to give it away," Adey said.
Tess Simon said she would tell others to come to events hosted by the American Indian Center.
"I learned a lot about Native American culture and the traditions behind dream catchers," Simon said
For more information about an event like the dream catcher class, one can get more information by visiting the AIC Web site, www.stcloudstate.edu/aic and click on events and publications.