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FETISHISM

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 296 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FETISHISM , an See also:

ill-defined See also:term, used in many different senses: (a) the See also:worship of inanimate See also:objects, often regarded as peculiarly See also:African; (b) See also:negro See also:religion in See also:general; (c) the worship of inanimate objects conceived as the See also:residence of See also:spirits not inseparably See also:bound up with, nor originally connected with, such objects; (d) the See also:doctrine of spirits embodied in, or attached to, or conveying See also:influence through, certain material objects (See also:Tylor); (e) the use of charms, which are not worshipped, but derive their magical See also:power from a See also:god or spirit; (f) the use as charms of objects regarded as magically potent in themselves. A further See also:extension is given by some writers, who use the term as synonymous with the religions of See also:primitive peoples, including under it not only the worship of inanimate objects, such as the See also:sun, See also:moon or stars, but even such phases of primitive See also:philosophy as See also:totemism. See also:Comte applied the term to denominate the view of nature more commonly termed See also:animism. Derivation.—The word fetish (or fetich) was first used in connexion with See also:Africa by the Portuguese discoverers of the last See also:half of the 15th See also:century; See also:relics of See also:saints, rosaries and images were then abundant all over See also:Europe and were regarded as possessing magical virtue; they were termed by the Portuguese feiticos (i.e. charms). See also:Early voyagers to See also:West Africa applied this term to the wooden figures, stones, &c., regarded as the temporary residence of gods or spirits, and to charms. There is no See also:reason to suppose that the word feitico was applied either to an See also:animal or to the See also:local spirit of a See also:river, See also:hill or See also:forest. Feitico is sometimes interpreted to mean artificial, made by See also:man, but the See also:original sense is more probably " magically active or artful." The word was probably brought into general use by C. de See also:Brosses, author of Du culte See also:des dieux fetiches ('760), but it is frequently used by W. Bosman in his Description of See also:Guinea (1705), in the sense of " the false god, Bossum" or " Bohsum," properly a tutelary deity of an individual. See also:Definition.—The term fetish is commonly understood to mean the worship of or respect for material, inanimate objects, conceived as magically active from a virtue inherent in them, temporarily or permanently, which does not arise from the fact that a god or spirit is believed to reside in them or communicate virtue to them. Taken in this sense fetishism is probably amark of decadence. There is no See also:evidence of any such belief in Africa or elsewhere among primitive peoples. It is only after a certain grade of culture has been attained that the belief in See also:luck appears; the fetish is essentially a See also:mascot or See also:object carried for luck.

See also:

Ordinary Usage.—In the sense in which Dr Tylor uses the term the fetish is (1) a " god-See also:house " or (2) a See also:charm derived from a tutelary deity or spirit, and magically active in virtue of its association with such deity or spirit. In the first of these senses the word is applied to objects ranging from the unworked See also:stone to the pot or the wooden figure, and is thus hardly distinguishable from See also:idolatry. (a) The bohsum or tutelary deity of a particular See also:section of the community is derived from the local gods through the priests by the performance of a certain See also:series of See also:rites. The See also:priest indicates into what object the bohsum will enter and proceeds to the See also:abode of the local god to procure the object in question. After making an offering the object is carried to an appropriate spot and a " fetish " See also:tree set up as a shade for it, which is sacred so See also:long as the bohsum remains beneath it. The fall of the tree is believed to See also:mark the departure of the spirit. A bohsum may also be procured through a See also:dream; but in this See also:case, too, it is necessary to apply to the priest to decide whether the dream was veridical. (b) The suhman or tutelary deity of an individual is not an object selected at See also:random to be the residence of the spirit. It is only procurable at the residence of a Sasabonsum, a malicious non-human being. Various ceremonies are performed, and a spirit connected with the Sasabonsum is finally asked to enter an object. This is then kept for three days; if no See also:good See also:fortune results it is concluded either that the spirit did not enter the object selected, or that it is disinclined to extend its See also:protection. In either case the ceremonies must be commenced afresh.

Otherwise offerings and even human sacrifices in exceptional cases are made to the suhman. It is commonly believed that the negro claims the power of coercing his tutelary deity. This is denied by See also:

Colonel See also:Ellis. It is certain that See also:coercion of deities is not unknown, but further evidence is required that the negro uses it when his deity is refractory. The suhman can, it is believed, communicate a See also:part of his See also:powers to various objects in which he does not dwell; these are also termed suhman by the natives and may have given rise to the belief that the practices commonly termed fetishism are not animistic. These charms are many in number; offerings of See also:food and drink are made, i.e. to the portion of the power of the suhman which resides in them. These charms can only be made by the possessor of the suhman. On the Guinea See also:Coast the spirit implanted in the object is usually, if not invariably, non-human. Farther See also:south on the See also:Congo the " fetish " is inhabited by human souls also. The priest goes into the forest and cuts an See also:image; when a party enters a See also:wood for this purpose they may not mention the name of any living being unless they wish him to See also:die and his soul to enter the fetish. The right See also:person having been selected, his name is mentioned; and he is believed to die within ten days, his soul passing into the nkissi. It is into these figures that the nails are driven, in See also:order to procure the vengeance of the indwelling spirit on some enemy.

In many cases the fetish spirit is believed to leave the " god. house " and pass for the See also:

time being into the See also:body of the priest, who manifests the phenomena of See also:possession (q.v.). It is a See also:common See also:error to suppose that the whole of African religion is embraced in the practices connected with these tutelary deities; so far from this being the case, belief in higher gods, not necessarily accompanied with worship or propitiation, is common in many parts of Africa, and there is no reason to suppose that it had been derived in every case, perhaps not in any case, from See also:Christian or See also:Mahommedan missionaries. See A. B. Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples, chs. vii., viii. and xii.; See also:Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvolker, 174; R. E. Dennett in See also:Folklore, vol. xvi.; R. H. See also:Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa (1904); also Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 143, and M. H. See also:Kingsley, West African Studies (and ed., 1901), where the term is used in a more extended sense.

(N. W.

End of Article: FETISHISM

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