Zuni fetishes

Within the Zuni community, these carvings serve ceremonial purposes for their creators and depict animals and icons integral to their culture.

Cushing reports that the Zuni divided the world into six regions or directions: north, west, south, east, above, and below.

[3] A second group of fetishes, the Prey Gods of the Hunt, belonging to the Hunter Order, or Society, are given in the “prayer songs of the Sa-ni-a-kia-kwe”.

Contemporary carvers many produce images of exotic subjects – dinosaurs, for example – or some insects and reptiles that are customary but more integral to petroglyphs, symbolism, and the patterns of design in pottery – dragonflies, butterflies, water spiders, and lizards for example.

Other materials used are travertine or "Zuni rock", fishrock, jasper, pipestone, marble, or organic items such as fossilized ivory, bone, and deer or elk antler.

[8] In Zuni cosmology and those of neighboring tribes, each animal is believed to have inherent powers or qualities that may aid the owner.

The Navajo, for example, treasured and bartered for figures of horses, sheep, cattle or goats to protect their herd from disease and to ensure fertility.

These are the mountain lion and great white bear, which belong to the "skies", as well as a prey god of human form adorned with "flint knife-feather pinions and tail".

[10] On the subject of feeding, within Zuni culture it is believes fetishes require periodic meals of cornmeal and ground turquoise.

The customary Zuni perspective is that the least modification of the original material maintains, or heightens, the power of the fetish as a "natural concretion.

The enigma, or apparent paradox relevant to Zuni belief and realism in art is resolved in the notion that carvings for sale and collection are produced without religious intent.

[15] Traditionally, they are given "ceremonial feedings" by sprinkling a bit of ground blue corn meal and pulverized turquoise.

With the emergence of Zuni jewelry created for sale or trade in the 20th century, in particular in the 1960s and 1970s, a more realistic carving style developed.

Forerunners in this newer style include members of the Leekya and Leekya-Deyuse families who are known for their bird fetish necklaces.

Often the heshi (beads) were made by artisans at the neighboring Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo up the Rio Grande Valley.