Prayer bowl

About the Prayer Bowl

The prayer bowl was previously a ceremonial object, to be used only in the kiva during clan gatherings. However, the prayer bowls we see these days were produced primarily for the art market. As such, they are missing some of the designs that would be on display on a prayer bowl made specifically for a kiva ceremony (they are usually broken up after the ceremony concludes, so that they don't somehow escape into the Anglo world).

Among the pueblos that make prayer bowls, generally their prayer bowls have four equally-spaced, two- or three-stepped notches cut into the rim. If there's any other decoration on the piece, it's usually fertility symbols like tadpoles and frogs, and they could be inside and outside the bowl.

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