National Aboriginal History Month Day Twenty-nine: pawâmawin-nawatônikan

Urban Native Magazine and Regina Aboriginal Professionals Association have launched a photograph challenge (for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) in honour of National Aboriginal History Month. They’re using the Twitter hashtag #NAHM2015PhotoADay.

Here at the Cree Literacy Network, we’ve decided to play along, by gathering the images suggested – but (with help from Solomon Ratt) captioning them in Cree.

For Day Twenty-nine, the word is Dream Catcher: 

Another word that Solomon has made up to suit our purposes, since Dream Catchers are not really a Cree tradition.

pawâmawin-nawatônikan / ᐸᐚᒪᐏᐣ ᓇᐘᑑᓂᑲᐣ

“thing that catches dreams”

Not Cree perhaps, but still a beautiful tradition, documented with exquisite care by my dear late friend, physical anthropologist Cath Oberholtzer,

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in her book, “Dream catchers: legend, lore and artifacts”. Firefly Books Ltd., New York. 2012.

Cath’s book is the foundation of the following online piece from the Museum of Ontario: http://archaeologymuseum.ca/dream-catchers/