Fetish Carvings,
Necklaces & Pots...
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Kiva is proud to offer the fetish carvings and sculpture from many different Indian artists. Artists we feature come from Zuni, Pueblo, Navajo and occasionally Lakota, Absaroke & Iroquois cultural traditions. They are enrolled in their prospective tribe/Nations andl pursue their art as an income source as well as for the creative expression of cultural themes it offers them. 
A Zuni Story In Halona, the village center of the Zuni Pueblo, the wind whistles gently as it courses through the narrow paths between scores of ancient, mud-plastered dwellings, and along the paved highway that leads to the rest of the world. Halona is nestled on the sandy banks of the Zuni River as it runs through the gentle embrace of the colorful Zuni Mountains. Cliffs and rock outcroppings have been sculpted by wind and water to create scenes of amazing beauty in this small, New Mexico valley. Here, long ago, stories say that these people, having had many adventures after emerging into this world, finally found a home. How they found that home would take a lifetime of telling, but one story involves those who, in the end, though jealous and wary, finally helped them in their needs. At the time of the emergence, the people were alone in this huge, new world, seeking food and shelter from the storms and the sun. The creator hafd filled the new world with animals and plants for abundant food, but the people were not aware of who were their friends and which plants could be eaten, so they made attempts to contact and observe the animals they met. The predators, however, were distrustful, and were jealous of the people's skill in hunting, so they decided to make trouble fpor them, frightening game animals, and stalking the people to frighten them into leaving. The wanted to give them no rest. During this period, some kindly small and game animals shared their knowledge of plants and food and sources of water with the newcomers, even allowing some of their numbers to be given to the people for food, but despite the prayers of the people, the predators persisted in witholding knowledge, and worrying the people at every opportunity. Finally, the Creator approached, gathering the predators to aask them to aid the people in finding a new home, but after great discussions, the predators refused, instead harrying and troubling the people even more! The Creator was angry, and he sent his emissaries to again ask the predators to help the people, but again, was rebuffed, so the Creator, spoke to each predator, in his heart, and told him that since they were not helping the newcomers, they would be turned to stone. If a person found one of them, lying on the ground, and picked him up, then any wish they asked of the stone predator must be granted. And so it was. The descendants of the original predators were allowed to remain as animals, but the spirits of the chiefs of the predators were sent into stones and put forth to the six directions, where they would no longer trouble people, but offer the aid of their strenght and skills, for all time to come. In time, they learned to recognize the rocks that held these spirits, and so began to ask for their help, and almost immediately., the people's lot improved, especially in time, when one of the water birds helped by leading them to their home in the small valley, where they remain today, in the center of the world. Also, to this day, when a Zuni earnestly asks the spirit of one of the predator chiefs for help, it is always given, if the one asking is of pure heart. That is the begining of the Zuni fetish tradition, which is also followed, differing in detail, by most of the Southwestern American Indian Nations. For more information, we recommend a book published by KC Publications and offered on our Ebay Store in the category of "Other". It contains the full text of the c. 1910 document Zuni Fetishes, by Frank Cushing, the last non-Zuni fully initiated into their culture and religious society. |
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