The Indian Wedding Blessing, Apache Wedding Prayer, and other variants, is commonly recited at weddings in the United States. It is not associated with any particular religion and indeed does not mention a deity or include a petition, only a wish. It has no known connection to the traditions of the Apache or any other Native American group.
It was written for the 1947 Western novel Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold. The blessing entered popular consciousness when it made its way into the film adaptation of the novel Broken Arrow, scripted by Albert Maltz. The Economist, citing Rebecca Mead's book on American weddings, characterized it as "'traditionalesque', commerce disguised as tradition".
The first line of the original poem was "Now for you there is no rain" and the last "Now, forever, forever, there is no loneliness". Since 1950, there have since been several different versions of the poem. The film text begins "'Now you will feel no rain" and ends "And may your days be good and long upon the earth."
Famous quotes containing the words indian, wedding and/or blessing:
“A red-headed woodpecker flew across the river, and the Indian remarked that it was good to eat.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Well, the wedding is over, the good folks are joined for better for worse—a shocking clause that!—’tis preparing one to lead a long journey, and to know the path is not altogether strewed with roses.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)