The Wedding Vase

The following describes a marriage tradition among a number of pueblo Indians.

A week or two before a marriage, the parents of both bride and groom give the young couple knowledge to assist them in having a happy and successful marriage. A wedding vase is created and represents the joining together of two lives. At the bride’s home, the future husband and all his relatives meet. The bride brings out everything she will need to establish their new home: clothing, utensils, mattress, corn and any other homemaking essentials, including her white manta wedding dress.

Indian holy water is placed inside the wedding vase and given to the bride. She drinks from one side, turns it around and gives it to the groom who then drinks from the opposite side of the same vase. This ceremony unites them as one.

The couple will treasure the vase throughout their married life. Should one of them outlive the other, the remaining person will give the vase to a couple known to be living a happily married life. The wedding vase is treasured and protected always, it is never broken or destroyed.

The above story was told by Margaret Gutierrez, a famous potter from the Santa Clara Pueblo.

Note: The Indian name for a wedding vase is phonetically spelled, “Sat-weh”. The tradition of ‘Wedding Vases’ is believed to have originated among the Rio Grande Pueblos.

I am learning to love the quiet, simple pleasures of life. Listen to your soul during the peaceful ‘alone’ times and learn the great lessons of life.

I depict here, a young man, a Hopi pot maker. Carrying on the tradition of his people, he paints symbols on clay pots. It is summer. As he works, he feels the warmth of the sun’s caress on his back. It is a spiritual task, this ‘painting of the pots’. He has been taught from childhood to ask the Great Spirit for assistance in guiding his hands.