ZUNILINK
Your Link to Fine Zuni Fetishes and Fetish Carvings

 
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  Zuni corn maiden fetish
Corn maidens
Zuni buffalo fetish
Buffalos
Zuni fetish - bird
Birds
Zuni fetish -bear
Bears
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Frogs
 
  Zuni fetish - bobcat
Mountain lions
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Wolves/coyotes
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Horses
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Turtles
 
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If you are looking for a specific Zuni fetish animal or a Zuni fetish carver not listed below, you can search the entire site by using the Google search link. Simply type into the search window a word or phrase associated with your search. You will receive a list of links to the pages on which those items appear. Please be sure to keep the indicator on ZuniLink or you will transferred to the entire web.Happy hunting!

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Badgers

Bears One | Bears Two

Bears Three | Bears Four

Bears Five

Birds One | Birds Two

Birds Three | Birds Four

Buffalos, Elks & Rams

Bunnies & Beavers

Corn maidens
& Figures One

Corn Maidens
& Figures Two

Fish/Sea Creatures

Frogs | Frogs Two

Horses | Horses Two

Horses Three

Lizards/Snakes/Reptiles

Moles & Mice

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Mountain Lions/Cats Two

Otters and 'Ends'

Six Directions

Turtles

Wolves/Foxes/Coyotes

Wolves/Foxes/Coyotes Two

Wolves/Foxes/Coyotes Three

Are you new to Native American fetish carvings?
You can start on this page and learn about the history of Zuni fetish carvings, Zuni fetish carvers and the materials used in carving Zuni fetishes.

If you are an experienced collector, click on any of the links to visit pages devoted to specific Zuni, Navajo or Cochiti or other pueblo carvers or specific fetish animals.


ZuniLink is owned and operated by
Susanne and William Waites, dealers
in tribal arts for 26 years.

Email us at sanibelart@comcast.net
or telephone 800-305-0185

Introducing our Zuni Fetish Collector's Club.
Click here to learn more about our Zuni Fetish Collector's Club

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What our customers say about us:

"She (the carving) is absolutely gorgeous and the immediate centerpiece of my maiden collection! Thank you" - M



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Zuni Fetishes: How and Why?

Imagine a universe where all things interconnect, sharing a common spirit. From the center of the earth to the outer reaches of the cosmos, everything from humans and animals

to lumps of clay is an extension of the life spirit. In some objects, the spirit is animated. In others it is dormant, but nonetheless present.
How Zunis View their World.

This approximates the life-view of the Zuni people (and other native tribes of North America.) For the Zuni, this interrelationship has created a hierarchy of being. Humans are both the smartest and the most distant from the Creator and, therefore, the most susceptible to danger. Animals, are the most natural and, therefore, closest to the Creator, with the immediate access to the power of the Creator.

As might be expected in a culture with primarily an oral history, there are variations on the Zuni creation story. Common to most appears to be the belief that the Creator placed the Zuni on a land

that was swampy and dangerous,filled with animals that were more adept at survivalthan humans and threatening to the Zuni. Through the use of lightning bolts, Zuni cosmology believes, the two sons of the Creator made the land dry and habitable and turned many of the animals to stone.

The spirit of the animal remained in the stone, like the life force remains in a seed. Stones that resembled animals, found on the ground, were believed to retain the power and characteristics of the animals they resembled. When consecrated by a Zuni priest or medicine man, they were believed to be formidable mediums for contacting the Spirit world and powerful allies for the hunter or for individual or collective protection.
From Finding to Carving

In the sweep of time, Zuni carvers came first to modify the stones to better resemble the animal and then to carve distinguishable animal shapes in stones that were shapeless.

As carving was refined and the available materials expanded, the carving of "fetishes" grew into an art form. Such carvings still can become formal fetish objects if blessed by a sacred tribal leader or informal fetish objects if invested with power by the owner of the carving. The power and protection of the carving largely depends on the faith and belief of the person who owns it, and the respect with which it is treated.

Traditional fetish carvings were kept in fetish bowls with a hole in the side so that they could be "fed." Ground corn or corn pollen and pulverized turquoise would be placed in front of the fetish. After a suitable interval, during which the fetish was able to absorb the spirit of the meal, the meal would be taken away and buried.

Today, owners of fetish carvings are expected to provide safe and comfortable care for them, including occasional feeding. It is said, "if you take care of the fetish, it will take care of you."

Click here for the continuation of this essay
and more about Zuni fetish carving traditions.

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Zuni Link is operated by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, Fort Myers, Florida

For more information, or to contact us by email, send to sanibelart@comcast.net
or by phone at
239-482-7025
or 800-305-0185
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For more information about Zuni Pueblo, Zuni carvers and Zuni traditions,
click this link to visit a page of book selections like this one.

© 2002 - 2008 Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, a member of the Indian Arts & Crafts Association
and
the Southwestern Association for Indian Art
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