The resulting 'dream-catcher', hung above the bed, is used as a charm to protect sleeping children from nightmares. Traditionally, the Ojibwa construct dreamcatchers by tying sinew strands in a web around a small round or tear-shaped frame of willow (in a way roughly similar to their method for making snowshoe webbing). Non-Indians have also used the dreamcatcher for their own purposes. However, other Native Americans have come to see dream catchers as over-commercialized. Some consider the dream catcher a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. While dreamcatchers originated in the Ojibwa Nation, during the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different nations. There is a traditional belief that a dreamcatcher filters a person's dreams, letting through only the good ones.
In Native American culture, a dreamcatcher is a handmade object based on a hoop (traditionally of willow), incorporating a loose net, and decorated with items unique to the particular dreamcatcher.
