Great Bowl (Sacred Vessel)
Understanding a vessel in this context comes from the I Ching, an ancient system of divination, using sixty-four hexagrams.
Hexagram Fifty symbolizes a ceremonial vessel used to hold food for sacred rites. Its lesson is to recognize the great generative power of nourishment for all. Nurturing others brings supreme good fortune, it fosters the clarity of inner gentleness. The flames that prepare the food of the Great Bowl foster the spirit of life, so the visible can grow beyond itself, into the realm of the invisible.
The Great Bowl is particularly important to Indigenous Nations in British Columbia and beautiful examples of feasting bowls are found within the Potlatch tradition.
To honour and nourish those around us is to venerate the Divine.