Hopi Wedding Ensemble

In the Hopi culture, the groom and his male relatives weave fine wedding clothes for the bride, a process that may take months.

The bride will appear dressed in the white wedding robe, white deerskin boots and a black manta.  Her face will be painted white, and in her arms she will carry another robe identical to the one that she is wearing.  The second robe will be in a “suitcase” made of willow twigs,  and rain sash symbolizing fertility. She eventually will be wrapped in that one when her life ends, and she will be buried in it for her trip to the cloud country, where cloud people reside.

Today, this rare ensemble is on display, and available at River Trading Post, Scottsdale.  It includes two wedding robes, a reed wrapping mat, moccasins, and rain sash.