White bison on my dream catcher
gilpin25 requested a close up of the dream catcher seen at the edge of one of the pictures in my previous post as well as an explanation of the legend of the white bison. I aim to please so, here you go:
The idea behind a dream catcher is that nightmares and the like get stuck in the webbing and are burned away by sunlight while good dreams filter through to reach the sleeper. Or something along those lines. I really just think it looks cool and, as I mentioned previously, I am fascinated with the legend of the white bison so my sister bought me this one when she saw it with the white bison decoration.
There are several variations on the legend of the white buffalo bison. The basic story is that the Indians in question had somehow lost communication with the Spirit world. One day, a lady appeared who was fairly quickly identified as a Great Spirit. She taught the people the ways to pray and communicate with the Spirits (naming ceremonies, certain dance rituals, types of meditation, what is commonly and somewhat erroneously called the Peace Pipe, etc.). Eventually she left, walking toward the horizon. She stopped, rolled on the ground, transformed into a black bison, and resumed walking. She did this again and became a brown (or red) bison. The third time, she became a red (or yellow) bison, and finally a white bison. The white bison then disappeared over the horizon or ascended into the heavens or some such. The prophecy is that the return of the spirit as a white bison will herald a rejoining of the spirit and physical realms and an age of peace. Or something along those lines.
In reality, there are a couple dozen white bison alive today. These are not albinos as they do have pigmentation, including blue or brown eyes. They just have white fur rather than brown. The total odds of a white bison being born are something like 1 in 10 million. Some baby bison are born white but their coats turn brown during their first winter. There are more white bison alive now than normal because there is a ranch that has two or three white females and it keeps breeding them. White bison mothers are highly likely to produce white children no matter the color of the father. That one ranch has at least six or seven white bison last I checked (which was probably 2005). Now just don't ask me why the man's head is turquoise because I have no cool story for that.
I really do need to decide what other pictures I'm going to post from yesterday. Look for that picspam tomorrow because there is no way I can decide tonight. In the past week I've cleaned every inch of my apartment, rearranged my bedroom furniture (hurting my back a bit in the process of moving the bed), pet and cuddled a little hedgehog, made cookies, walked more than I have in a while, had the adrenaline high then crash of passing my written comps, worked with the kids at the elementary school, and generally done all the stuff I couldn't do while studying for my comps and I'm just too tired to sort through the pictures tonight.
The idea behind a dream catcher is that nightmares and the like get stuck in the webbing and are burned away by sunlight while good dreams filter through to reach the sleeper. Or something along those lines. I really just think it looks cool and, as I mentioned previously, I am fascinated with the legend of the white bison so my sister bought me this one when she saw it with the white bison decoration.
There are several variations on the legend of the white buffalo bison. The basic story is that the Indians in question had somehow lost communication with the Spirit world. One day, a lady appeared who was fairly quickly identified as a Great Spirit. She taught the people the ways to pray and communicate with the Spirits (naming ceremonies, certain dance rituals, types of meditation, what is commonly and somewhat erroneously called the Peace Pipe, etc.). Eventually she left, walking toward the horizon. She stopped, rolled on the ground, transformed into a black bison, and resumed walking. She did this again and became a brown (or red) bison. The third time, she became a red (or yellow) bison, and finally a white bison. The white bison then disappeared over the horizon or ascended into the heavens or some such. The prophecy is that the return of the spirit as a white bison will herald a rejoining of the spirit and physical realms and an age of peace. Or something along those lines.
In reality, there are a couple dozen white bison alive today. These are not albinos as they do have pigmentation, including blue or brown eyes. They just have white fur rather than brown. The total odds of a white bison being born are something like 1 in 10 million. Some baby bison are born white but their coats turn brown during their first winter. There are more white bison alive now than normal because there is a ranch that has two or three white females and it keeps breeding them. White bison mothers are highly likely to produce white children no matter the color of the father. That one ranch has at least six or seven white bison last I checked (which was probably 2005). Now just don't ask me why the man's head is turquoise because I have no cool story for that.
I really do need to decide what other pictures I'm going to post from yesterday. Look for that picspam tomorrow because there is no way I can decide tonight. In the past week I've cleaned every inch of my apartment, rearranged my bedroom furniture (hurting my back a bit in the process of moving the bed), pet and cuddled a little hedgehog, made cookies, walked more than I have in a while, had the adrenaline high then crash of passing my written comps, worked with the kids at the elementary school, and generally done all the stuff I couldn't do while studying for my comps and I'm just too tired to sort through the pictures tonight.