American Indian fetishes –History and Significance

Native Americans use fetishes to bring good luck in hunting or for protection against evil spirits.  Usually the fetish is meant to be carried in a bag or worn on the body either as a necklace or on a belt.  There are many different meanings for each fetish.  A “prey” fetish might be used to pray to the spirit of the prey so it will allow itself to be killed.  A “master fetish” would be a mountain lion and that too would aid in tracking the prey.

As time passed, The Zuni perfected the art of making the table fetish.  The Zunis make them far more elaborate than the original fetishes were. After awhile, other tribes began copying the Zuni.

The Zuni believe the world was once covered by floodwaters, which left it swampy and uninhabitable for humans.  The Sun Father, revered as the giver of light and life, created twin sons.  The twins recognized the world was far too wet for humans and that it needed to be dried out.  The Sun Father gave his sons a magic shield, a bow (the rainbow) and the arrows (lightening) to help them in this quest.  The twins place their shield on the earth, crossed the rainbow, and with lightening arrows on top of the shield, shot an arrow into the point where they crossed.  Lightening flew in every direction creating a tremendous fire and this dried out the Earth and humans came to live on it.

However, it left it too easy for predators to catch and eat the humans. So, to save the humans, the twins struck these animals with their lightening, burning and shriveling them into stone.  But deep within, the animals’ hearts were kept alive, with instructions to help humans with the magic captured within their hearts.