How to Use a Navajo Vase in a Wedding Ceremony

A Navaho wedding vase has two spouts.

Navajo wedding vases, which have two spouts coming from a single vessel, were used in wedding ceremonies in Mexico and among Native Americans in the Southwestern U.S. The vases come in every size and design.

Things You'll Need

• Navajo wedding vase
• Backup Navajo wedding vase
• Water or wine

Instructions

1. Choose a vase that matches the colors or theme of your wedding. Plain white vases are available and can be elegant. If your ceremony will be in a large church or hall, choose a vase at least 10 inches tall, so guests in the back rows will be able to see what you're doing.

2. Advise the person performing your ceremony that you will be using a Navajo wedding vase. Explain the ritual and determine where it will go in the ceremony. The wedding vase ritual is somewhat similar to lighting a unity candle; those rituals are most often performed just before the vows or just before the pronouncement, while the soloist sings.

3. Fill the Navajo wedding vase with water and give it to the Maid of Honor, or another steady-handed individual, to carry to the altar.

4. Perform the ritual. Let the person performing the ceremony explain that the wedding vase is a single vessel with two spouts, symbolic of two souls drawing spiritual nourishment from a single source. The bride should sip from one spout, then hand the vase to the groom, who sips from the other spout. Then the groom should hand the vase to someone in the wedding party to hold for the remainder of the ceremony.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are artistic, get an unglazed Navajo wedding vase and decorate it yourself with symbols that are meaningful to the wedding couple. Have the vase glazed at a pottery shop to make it waterproof and durable.

• You don't have to drink all the water or wine, just one sip each.

• Performing the wedding vase ritual just before the vows will make it easier to speak if you have a nervous, dry throat.

• Smaller Navajo wedding vases can be filled with flowers and used as favors or table decorations at the reception.

• Your Navajo wedding vase can serve as a decorative object in your home and can hold two dried or silk flowers from the ceremony, one from each spout.

• Don't forget the backup vase. For extra safety, have the vase already filled with water or wine and waiting at the altar, perhaps behind a flower centerpiece, to be fetched at the right moment.