These creations were hung over the bed to protect sleeping people, usually children, from nightmares.

The first Dream Catchers were sometimes shaped like snowshoes and the process of creating the web was similar to making snowshoes. Good dreams would pass through the web and slide down the feathers to the sleepers. The purpose of these Dream Catchers ( atrapa suenos) was to catch bad dreams in the net that would disappear at daylight. Mothers and grandmothers wanted to save their children from worry and fear, so they began to weave magical webs, later known as Dream Catchers, which would filter out all bad dreams and only allow good thoughts to enter their heads. The legend goes something like this: As the Ojibwa Nation spread to the corners of North America, it became impossible for The Spider Woman, Asibikaashi, to protect all the children from bad dreams that creep into their minds at night. Many Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams, both good and bad. I learned that the first Dream Catchers came from the Ojibwa or Chippewa Nations in the northern United States. I decided to research this form of art on the Internet and by talking to local artisans to see if the well-known stories related to the Dream Catcher were part of traditional Maya culture. As time went by, I observed that the presence of Dream Catchers was expanding and they were taking on a very creative aspect that was new to me: different shapes, different images, different sizes, colors and combinations thereof. Six months ago as I traveled along the Cobá Road, I noticed that many tiny shops were now selling Dream Catchers.

Origin of dream catchers