Have Collectible Zuni Fetishes to Reflect Native Art and Powerful Physical Manifestations of Sacred Beliefs
Have Collectible Zuni Fetishes to Reflect Native Art and Powerful Physical Manifestations of Sacred Beliefs Creative products of the Zuni people, art pieces crafted by Native American people in the shape of animals, Zuni Fetishes find homes in many collectors’ homes. Museums show off the carvings as part of a display of the work of artists in the Southwestern regions of North America. The carvings date back a thousand years, telling a colorful story of life in the Southwestern regions of America. The carvings are compact in size, certainly small enough to fit in a single hand. There's something awe-inspiring and sacred about holding one of the little Zuni Fetishes and following the marks and strokes of the artist. A raw piece of turquoise or jet has been lovingly teased and shaped, chipping off extraneous material to reveal the form of a horse, a goat, a grazing steer. The shapes are often stylized in appearance, but there's no mistaking the animal they represent, and no question of the dedicated attention given to the precious icon. Indeed, the fetishes are considered sacred to traditional Zuni culture, representations of animal spirits and protective icons. Fetishes were carved to bring good fortune to a hunt, to promote fertility, even to call upon rain or fair weather. The representations were carved in poses where they were roaring with courage and providing a protective eagle’s wing over the people of the tribe. These little iconic carvings may have been small in stature, but they were treated as powerful physical manifestations of sacred beliefs. When disease or famine entered a region, or when rain was long overdue, the elders of the Zuni people would pray to the Zuni Fetishes and perform intricate rituals with the idols as a central component, the sacred power behind the ceremony.
Today, beliefs have changed and the fetishes are no longer worshiped, but they are considered one of the ultimate expressions of Native American Jewelry or art, and coveted by any appreciator of American history. Natural history is a large subject to cover, with weapons and lifestyles of native people often becoming the focus of collecting, but art is every bit as indicative of the advances of a culture as the level of weapon development and advances in shelter from the elements. For example, early Fetishes were carved from soft stone, sharp edges of flint etching the form of the animal on to the face of the stone, but fetishes from less than one or two centuries past were far more advanced in design. The stone used was more precious in material, built to convey the sacred nature of the finished carving. Seek out and hold a Zuni Fetishes inspired carving if at all possible, and feel one thousand years of spiritual art in the palm of a hand.
About the Author
Author of this article has done research on the history of Native American Jewelry items. He reveals that Zuni fetishes are now treated as a form of contemporary Native American art, which are sold and shipped with secular intentions to the worldwide collectors.
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