Zuni Fetiches

As previously explained, the name of the latter class (the prey animals) is used by preference as the term for all fetiches (Wé-ma-we), whether they represent the prey animals themselves or other beings. It is natural that since animal gods are more connected to man's physical needs than the higher gods, they should outnumber and define the character of all other religious objects. We find that Zuñi fetiches relate mostly to these animal gods, and primarily to the prey gods.

ORIGIN OF ZUÑI FETICHISM.

This fetichism seems to have arisen from the relationships previously mentioned and is founded on myths invented to account for them. Therefore, it is not surprising that the most valued fetiches are either natural concretions (Plate I, Fig. 6) or objects where the original resemblance to an animal has been heightened by artificial means (Plate IV, Fig. 7; Plate V, Fig. 4; Plate VI, Figs. 3, 6, 8; Plate VIII, Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5; Plate IX, Fig. 1).

Another highly prized class consists of elaborately carved fetiches that show evidence of great age in their polish and dark patina. These are either found by the Zuñis near ancestral pueblos or are tribal possessions handed down through generations, until the original makers are forgotten. The priests (Á-shi-wa-ni) of Zuñi believe that not only these, but all true fetiches, are either actual petrifactions of the animals they represent or were such originally. This belief is the foundation of the following tradition, taken from a remarkable mythological epic I have entitled the "Zuñi Iliad."

THE ZUÑI ILIAD.

Although oral, this epic is of great length, metrical (even rhythmic in parts), and filled with archaic expressions absent from modern Zuñi. It is regrettable that the original wording cannot be preserved here. I have been unable to record even portions of this literature literally, as it is jealously guarded by the priests who are its keepers. It is publicly repeated only once every four years, and then only in the presence of the priests of the various orders. As a member of one of these orders, I was enabled to...