Vintage Navajo Wedding Basket

Item Details

A vintage Navajo wedding basket. The ceremonial baskets were interpreted as the central spot representing the sipapu, where the Navajo people arrived from the past world through a reed. The inner coils are white (natural) to define birth. Moving outward the black coils represent darkness, conflict, and agony. The red coils are identified as marriage and the mixing of blood to create a family. Beyond the red coils is more darkness but it is interspersed with white (natural) light that gives way to all white (natural) banding of the outer rim representing the spirit world. The line from the center to the outer rim reflects no matter how much darkness, there is always a pathway to light. During ceremonies, the pathway is pointed east. The last coil finishes at the pathway to allow the medicine man to locate it in darkness.

Dimensions

Item #

17CIN257-050