One -Year

Wow, we can hardly believe that we have been together a year, but we have and we made it. In celebration of our one-year anniversary, when JJ and I were in Santa Fe, we bought a piece of pottery, called a wedding vase.

Believed to have originated in South America, the wedding vase has been a part of Pueblo life for centuries. The graceful spouts represent two separate lives. The bridge at the top part of the vessel unites these separate lives together as one. The future husband's parents provide the wedding vase in Indian ceremonies. This happens two weeks before marriage and is a very festive time. Gifts and advice are given to the bride and groom as they prepare to establish their new home together. On their wedding day, this vase is filled with Indian holy water and given to the bride. She drinks from one side of the vessel while the groom partakes from the opposite side. This ceremony is equivalent to the exchanging of wedding bands. The couple will cherish their wedding vase throughout their married life.

Here is the wedding vase that JJ and I bought to celebrate our first year of marriage.

On the top of the wedding vase is a Kokopelli. The Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with a huge phallus and feather or antenna-like protrusions on his head), who has been venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is a trickster god and represents the spirit of music.

As we reflect on our first year of marriage, JJ and I first are thankful to have god in our lives. We are also happy to have wonderful friends and family. JJ and I have both come to realize that "Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

We thank everyone for their well wishes!!

God Blss, JJ and Jess