I've Got a Fetish

Two weeks ago, en route to meet my father for dinner on his birthday, I passed by Pippin Vintage Jewelry. With 20 minutes to spare, I stopped in reasoning I could shake up my father's style with the purchase of some vintage cuff links. Really though, who was I kidding? I wanted to see if there were any great finds for me. And never one to disappoint, Pippin provided.

Trying on a pair of earrings, a necklace caught my eye just beyond my hand-held mirror. The saleswoman explained it was a fetish necklace, I tried it on and, well, the rest is credit history. I felt rather guilty buying myself a present instead of my father, but further speculation led me to the following justification for my purchase: if my father hadn't been born, I wouldn't have been born, so therefore celebrating the day of his birth is by extension celebrating the day of my birth! See? I totally deserved a present.

Desiring more information about my new fetish, I went home and did some research. With the history of the Zuni dating back to some time around 2500 B.C., and not wishing to 1) write a research paper and 2) make you read a research paper, I'm going to keep this brief and fetish applicable.

The Zuni, part of the Pueblo people, are a Native American tribe who live in Western New Mexico and are considered to have been discovered by Fray Marco de Niza, a Franciscan friar. It was 1539 when, in search of rumored wealth, Fray Marco de Niza and a Moor named Estevan came upon the Zuni. Desiring their turquoise and women, Estevan, naturally, demanded they be handed over to him and his companion. Estevan was quickly executed and Fray Marco de Niza ran home scared, though alive enough to claim the discovery.

A traditional people, the Zuni’s economy has historically been dependent upon their irrigated agriculture and livestock. However, in the 1830s, realizing the profitability of the precious stones indigenous to their land, the Zunis began to improve their jewelry making skills and used their handmade crafts for trade with other tribes. By the mid-1940s, their crafts began to account for more than 50% of the Pueblo cash income, and it only grew from there.

Typical to Zuni crafts are fetishes, animals carved from precious stone. The Zuni believe animals possess unique spiritual powers, and the fetishes are the incarnation of these powers. It is believed that possessing a fetish brings you closer to the animal spirit, thus bringing you good luck and prosperity. Fetish necklaces are composed of fetishes and heishi, small beads made out of shell.

Apparently there are not that many people who still make fetishes, so possessing them can carry a high price tag. One site cautioned that any fetish necklace purchased under $200 is a fake, and since mine cost nowhere near that amount, I’m calling their bluff. The people at Pippin are just too nice to lie, and they told me it was real. Not to mention that, in the end, real or fake, it looks great on me so who cares.


By the way, here's my dad, forever a kid at heart, at his aforementioned birthday dinner playing with his food. Typical.

references: Zuni Gallary of Indian Art, About.com, KESHi, Pueblo of Zuni