Dan's Stole: On Creating a Buddhist liturgical vestment

After seeing the wedding pictures, several people have asked me if I made the stole that Dan wore to perform Anna and Matty's wedding ceremony so I thought it merited a post.  When Dan was getting ready to perform his very first wedding, he decided that he would like a stole and I offered to make one.

While a liturgical vestment often associated with the Christian tradition, the stole was probably based on the tallit or Jewish prayer shawl.  In the Japanese Buddhist tradition, patchwork plays a very large role.  Monks are supposed to beg or collect scraps of fabric to piece together to make their robes.  It was from this that I got the idea to use crumb piecing to create the stole. Dan chose the color red.


After the stole was pieced, we determined that it needed some sort of symbology on the peak at the back and on the ends.  Dan chose the dharma wheel for the back and lotuses for the front ends. The red lotus is that of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva who embodies compassion.

Here's a great shot of Dan with my Dad that shows the dharma wheel.  The photo was taken by my brother, Dan Warner.

This is a close-up of the dharma wheel.

Here's one of the lotuses.

This is the ceremony in progress shot through a string of prayer flags and one of my favorite photos of the wedding.

Update July 20, 2010              
          
I received an email from Lynn, a vestment maker with more information about the history of the stole.  Here's what she has to say:
I am a long time vestment maker and although people of prayer have draped themselves in garments of worship for thousands of years, the stole itself traces its lineage to first century Rome.  The stole or scarf, longer (to knees) was worn as a symbol of 'office' and power. When the Christian church became endorsed by 'the state' under Constantine in the 300sCE, Christian priests (deacons, bishops) began to wear upper class Roman clothing as vestiture, again to denote their rank and role, and also fulfilling the idea of 'draping' the worship leader with a covering during worship and/or celebration. Of course every different path of 'the Holy' brings it's own lore and trappings.... When the Jews wore shawls (imitating Moses, who veiled himself, according to scripture, when he met God on the mountain), setting the precedent that a 'garment' was worn in conjunction w/ worship.  Not sure *really* what the first and second century Christians wore... after all, many of them were still Jews converting non Jews to a new 'sect', most probably.  The Roman's desire for 'order' and ritual is what set the pace for vestments, IMO.  The stole is not the only Roman attire that is still modeled in vestiture in Christian churches to this day, but the stole is the one most universally worn.

Wedding Prayer Flags

Whenever I saw pictures of Tibet or of the Tibetan community in exile in India, I was fascinated by the strings of prayer flags. From one small string flying outside a dwelling to thousands of strings flying from stupas or shrines.   Dan has brought me several sets from India over the years and I even made a set of art quilts that are prayer flags.  (See photo above. )  Dan has a little set that I made and I made a little set for Dan's friend Ravenna when we went to hear her sing at Duke.

Traditional prayer flags are printed with a mantra or prayer and Tibetan Buddhists believe that the flapping of the flags in the breeze carries these prayers away from the flag to spirits greater than their own.  The prayers written on Tibetan prayer flags always express positive intentions for happiness, enlightenment, and protection of all beings.  When we were thinking about decorations for Anna and Matt's wedding, it occured to me that I could make prayer flags in all different purple fabrics. To make them even more special to the occasion, I'm making family strings of flags with the names of the family members written on the flags.

These are all the flags cut from my purple fabric stash.

So that the flags won't bunch and fold up on each other when they are hanging, I decided to zigzag them to the crochet cord.

Here's a detail of that happening.

The first string is finished. It's for our family. Anna and Matt will have their own string of flags as their family begins.

Quick update:
Frieda Oxenham also has a post about prayer flags today!  Thanks for the heads-up, Frieda.

Prayer flags for Ravenna

Dan and our niece Cilloran and I are going to hear Dan's friend Ravenna Michelson sing at Duke tonight. Ravenna and Dan met during the Bodh Gaya India program and recently he interviewed her for Tricycle Magazine. I'm very much looking forward to the concert and I decided today to make a little gift to take to Ravenna. They are miniature Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. I made larger versions of prayer flags for one of my one-woman shows in Crawfordsville and when the rain stops, I'll get Dan to help me photograph them for the blog. In the meantime, here are the little ones.

Here they are from the back.

Close up of the blue one.

Close ups of the red and green ones.

And here's the label.

Namaste.