Magic and Fetishism

by Alfred C. Haddon

Thus the fetish was evolved.

But more commonly a spirit is attracted to the object from without, as in the case of the suhman of the Gold Coast, where the spirit of the Sasabonsum is invited into the stone or other object prepared for it, or as in the most usual type of West African fetish, where the wandering spirit becomes localised in an object by means of the ceremonies and conjurings of the Uganga or magic doctor ([53, 81]).

The distinction between the different powers animating the fetish are clearly distinguishable on the Gold Coast ([16, 275]). The Tshi believe that everything in nature is animated; that everything not made with hands has an indwelling spirit, possessing powers beneficial or prejudicial to man, according to whether it is propitiated or neglected; so the more dangerous spirits, those of rivers, mountains, rocks, and shoals are worshipped. Later on an image is made of the nature-god, from material from his habitat, and it is brought to a place more convenient for the worshippers, and forms their tutelary deity. Gradually his origin is forgotten, and the nature-god becomes a fetish.

But besides these ‘nature-gods’ there are ‘ghost-gods.’ The fetish may be animated by a ‘ghost-god,’ for the power of dead men lives on in their ghosts; sacrifices are made to them, and ghost-gods also develop into tutelary deities. Perhaps ancestor-worship and Fetishism may be more intimately related than is generally acknowledged ([16, 280]). The Melanesians believe that the souls of the dead act through bones; while the independent spirits choose stones as their mediums ([6, 131]).

9. In the popular view of Fetishism the material object was worshipped in its own character, but one of the fundamental conceptions of the West African fetish is that the spirit and the material object can be dissociated, and that, although the spirit is temporarily incorporated in the fetish, yet the two are no more inseparable than man’s soul and body. The conception of the duality of everything lies at the root of all the West African beliefs. ‘Everything that he knows by means of his senses he regards as a two-fold entity—part spirit, part not spirit, or, as we should say, matter; the connection of a certain spirit with a certain mass of matter, he holds, is not permanent. He will point out to you a lightning-struck tree, and tell you its spirit has been broken; he will tell you, when the cooking-pot has been broken, that it has lost its spirit; if his weapon fails, it is because some one has stolen, or made its spirit sick by witchcraft. In every action of his life he shows you how much he lives with a great powerful spirit world around him’ ([39, 141]).

When the spirit is ‘dead’ the fetish has no further value, ‘the little thing you kept the spirit in is no more use now, and only fit to sell to a white man as “a big curio”!’ ([40, 304-5]). But occasionally sanctity still clings to the former dwelling of the spirit, and it is used as a charm, though no longer worshipped as a fetish.

The Mirrone, a tree worshipped in the Congo region, was the tutelar god of the dwelling, and the owners placed calabashes full of palm-tree wine at the foot of the tree for the spirit to drink, ‘nor do they dare to tread upon its leaves any more than we would on the holy cross.’ But if it were damaged in any way, they no longer worshipped it, but they stripped off the bark or rind, which was made into petticoats for the women, to act as protecting charms ([54, xvi. 236]). Owing to the possibility of the spirit leaving the fetish, it has to be tested, to see whether it really contains an indwelling spirit or no, and the natives of the Gold Coast put their Bohsum in the fire as a probation. If the fire injures it in the very least degree, it is not a true Bohsum, there is no indwelling spirit ([15, 92]).

Sometimes the spirit is forcibly ejected from his dwelling-place for a particular purpose. Soon after Sir Richard Burton had arrived at Dahomé, ‘a fetish youth made his appearance in the evening, knelt down before the domestic altar, broke some of the images, and went away declaring that he had called out the fetishes, and that I might after the evocatio deorum do my worst’ ([9, i. 299]).

10. The fetish is worshipped, prayed to, sacrificed to, and talked with, as a sentient and willing personification of the spirit or power. Examples of sacrifices and prayers and worship offered to the fetishes are found in all parts, and many instances have already been quoted.