Navajo baskets by Mary Yazzie are featured at Bair's.

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Navajo Ceremonial Basket
Basketweaver: Mary Yazzie
Biographical information on Indian basketmakers of the Southwest.

Navajo Ceremonial Tohono O'odham Papago basket by

Material: Sun bleached and split sumac fiber over a core of sumac branches.
The black and red portions are naturally dyed sumac fibers.
Size: 10" diameter.
Style: Ceremonial Basket.
Handmade by: Mary Yazzie of the Navajo Nation.

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Item Number: 63-MY-143
Price: $175.00
S/H via U.S. Priority Mail: 13.90,
includes Insurance and Delivery Confirmation.

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Navajo ceremonial baskets, while often referred to as "Wedding Baskets," are used in most of over fifty different kinds of sacred ceremonies of the Diné. Depending on the length of the ceremony, up to seven different baskets may be needed. Viewed as a sort of map through which the Navajo people chart their life, the central spot of this basket represents the sipapu, where the Navajo people emerged from the prior world through a reed. Sumac is the material gathered by Navajo weavers to make ceremonial baskets. Thin sumac branches are used for the rods around which split sumac is woven.

The present day tribal lands of the Navajo Nation consist of 17,686,465 acres (over 27,000 square miles) in northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. Approximately the size of West Virginia, the Navajo Reservation is larger than ten of the 50 states in America. The reservation was created in 1868, and has since been expanded to its current size. It features over a dozen national monuments, tribal parks, and prehistoric sites. Population on the reservation today is over 180,000. Sumac is the material that Navajo weavers gather to make ceremonial baskets. Thin sumac branches are used for the rods around which the split sumac is woven. Baskets are used in most of over fifty different kinds of sacred ceremonies practiced in the traditional Navajo culture and depending on the length of the ceremony, up to seven different baskets may be needed.

"The basket is viewed as a map, through which the Navajo people chart their lives. The central spot in the basket represent the sipapu, where the Navajo people emerged from the prior world through a reed. As the people emerged, all was white. The inner coils of the basket are white to represent this lightness, or birth. As you travel outward [in a circular direction] on the coils you begin to encounter more and more black. The black represents darkness, struggle and pain; the darker side of life. As you make your way through the darkness you eventually reach the red bands, which represent marriage; the mixing of your blood with your spouse and the creation of family. The red is pure. During this time there is no darkness. Traveling out of the familial bands you encounter more darkness however, the darkness is interspersed with white light. The light represents increasing enlightenment, which expands until you enter the all white banding of the outer rim. This banding represents the spirit world where there is no darkness. The line from the center of the basket to the outer rim is there to remind you that no matter how much darkness you encounter in your world, there is always a pathway to the light." (As told to Steven P. Simpson by an informant, 1993)

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PLEASE NOTE: Orders of multiple items may result in a reduction of the total
amount charged for shipping/handling/insurance that is listed per item.
Any such reduction will occur before charging your credit card.

Free Shipping/Handling/Insurance on all Navajo rug orders over $500.00
Free Shipping/Handling/Insurance on all other orders over $250.00
(S/H/I fees posted on orders of multiple items that when added together total over $500.00 for
rugs, or over $250.00 for all other items will be adjusted off before charging your credit card.)

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