Exhibition Guide
Wedding Jar
Audio
Seeing a tradition
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Art Object Info
In traditional Pueblo wedding ceremonies, the bride, followed by the groom, drinks from a two-spouted wedding jar without spilling a drop. Success ensures a cooperative marriage. Dating back several centuries, the wedding jar form was revived around 1900 by Margaret Tafoya’s mother, Sarafina, who probably made the jar seen in Ufer’s painting. Tafoya started making monumental wedding vases at the Santa Clara Pueblo in the 1950s using the traditional coil technique—always slow, difficult work at such a scale. This pot is carved with an image of the serpent Avanyu, also known as Quetzalcoatl, who guards precious water in the arid Santa Clara landscape. Stylized clouds and rain decorate the other side of the pot. The lustrous black surface was achieved in a reduction fire fueled with sheep manure. After firing, the pot was painstakingly polished.
Art Object Info
In traditional Pueblo wedding ceremonies, the bride, followed by the groom, drinks from a two-spouted wedding jar without spilling a drop. Success ensures a cooperative marriage. Dating back several centuries, the wedding jar form was revived around 1900 by Margaret Tafoya’s mother, Sarafina, who probably made the jar seen in Ufer’s painting. Tafoya started making monumental wedding vases at the Santa Clara Pueblo in the 1950s using the traditional coil technique—always slow, difficult work at such a scale. This pot is carved with an image of the serpent Avanyu, also known as Quetzalcoatl, who guards precious water in the arid Santa Clara landscape. Stylized clouds and rain decorate the other side of the pot. The lustrous black surface was achieved in a reduction fire fueled with sheep manure. After firing, the pot was painstakingly polished.