The Dreamcatcher comes from the Ojibwe people.  It began with the teaching of the Spider Woman, who brought the Ojibwe people back to the light of the Grandfather Sun during the dark times. The Spider Woman would build her intricate lodge in the East so that the Grandfather Sun would rise and reflect on the morning dew that gathered throughout the night. Originally, when all the Ojibwe lived closely on Turtle Island, the Spider Woman would build many lodges/webs for the babies and the youth to keep them protected from bad spirits during the night. This also made the rest of the people grateful to see the beauty with each sunrise and brought them back to the light of the day and the Grandfather Sun.

After the Ojibwe people began to move all over Turtle Island, the Spider Woman had trouble with the long journeys to make webs for the new babies being born, so the Women gathered and decided to help the Spider Woman. They started making their own Dreamcatchers in ceremony. They used Willow and bent it into a tear drop shape. They used Sinew from the animals to create sticky webbing.  Bad spirit energy would get stuck in the sticky webbing and then burn up with the rise of Grandfather Sun. The good dreams and messages would then find their way through the center hole, then down the feathers to the sleeper.

Mandi Montour creates Dreamcatchers on Deer Antlers, as she was named after the Deer who are the Leaders of the four-legged beings. She does this to honor her name and the spirit of the Deer who laid down their lives for us. Each piece is signed and dated