Dream Culture

For most people dreams are just meaningless images that are projected into our heads as we sleep. However the mystic world of dreams have played an important role in Native American’s culture for centuries.

Sitting around a camp fire, mumbled chanting and smoke slowly drift into the mid-winter air, the tribe of the Iroquois League of the six nations – Orieidia, Onondaga, Serieca, cayuga, Mohawk and Tuscard focus on the festival of dream renewal, followed by dream sharing and dream guessing.

No-face, 50 from Delaware, (got his name because of the lack of expression when he speaks) belongs to the Serieca tribe and has immense pride of his heritage. No-face is usually busy running his American native jewellery and artefact shop, so he is constantly surrounded by modern society and the traditions of his people.

He speaks with a wise head as he takes delight in giving a brief education about his culture; “We believe that all can be found within your dreams, the dream world can provide answers to things we do not yet know. Dreams lead to an understanding, or guidance in life, and even sometimes to a spiritual experience.”

He may not show much expression on his face, yet pride emerges from his voice as he says; “The tribes of the Iroquis League of the six nations have been united for centuries, for the celebrations of great festivals. These are significant to both the spiritual and physical life of the tribes.”

Throughout the plains of the wild west Native Americans have hunted spiritual powers through dreaming. Dreams are considered as a way to connect with a higher power known as the great spirit. It is beleived that dreams allow the dreamer to have experiences of a higher power which can be accomplished in sleep, this leads to a spiritual openess when awake.

Not only can dreams lead to sacred knowledge, but like other primitive cultures, dreams were seen by the native americans as having certain marked features, meaning life issues could be gained from these elements in their dreams. For example, dreams telling tribes where to hunt, the use of a herb for medicine, or a new ritual giving power to ward off illness.                                                                                                                                                                 The mystifying powers of dreams were often considered to be bad or good. If a dream was considered bad something had to be done about it, such as a cleansing or healing ritual.