Zuñi Fetiches Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office, Washington — Background and Themes

The Zuñi System of Life

Cushing presents the Zuñi worldview as a 'great system of all-conscious and interrelated life' where resemblance determines relationship. Man is the 'starting point' but also the 'lowest' because he is least mysterious. Animals, being both mortal and endowed with specific instincts, are considered more nearly related to the gods than man is. This logic explains why fetishes—animal representations—serve as powerful intermediaries.

The text does not claim this system is universal; it is attributed specifically to the Á-shi-wi, or Zuñis. Cushing's phrasing—'it thus happens that the animals'—suggests he is reasoning from Zuñi premises rather than imposing an external framework. The hierarchy is not static: degrees of resemblance and mystery shift, making the system flexible enough to include imaginary organisms.

Material Evidence: Stone, Color, and Sinew

The fetishes are described with an archaeologist's eye for material and technique. A red Eagle fetich is 'a nearly natural fragment of very fine-grained red sandstone,' its wings indicated by 'deep lines which cross over the back.' A speckled Eagle is 'compact yellow limestone' with 'fragments of pure turkois inserted into the eyes, breast, and back.'

Color carries meaning: the blue Eagle is represented by 'turkois eyes and a green stain over the body.' The black Eagle fetich is 'of calcite, stained lustrous black' and wears a cotton cord 'necklace.' Attachments are made with 'a single sinew band' or a cord passed around wings and tail. These details reveal a craft tradition where natural form is minimally altered to signify species and region.

Regional Prey Gods and Their Ranks

The fetishes are organized by region and species. The Mountain Lion is 'master of the North' and 'master of all the other Prey gods.' The Coyote, Wolf, Wild Cat, Eagle, and Mole each govern a cardinal direction or vertical region. The Mole, god of the Lower regions, is 'unpopular' and 'considered less powerful,' its fetishes 'rude concretions with no definite form' or 'almost equally rude examples of art.'

Value depends on the animal's rank. The Ground Owl is 'even less prized than those of the Mole.' The Falcon is called 'the younger brother of the Eagle' and substitutes for the rare red Eagle. Cushing notes that the Coyote, in the Order of the Hunt, is given traditional precedence, but the Mountain Lion remains supreme. This ranking system is embedded in ritual practice, not merely taxonomy.

Ritual Context and Custodianship

The report mentions a 'Day of the Council of the Fetiches' and 'ceremonials of the hunt,' but does not describe them in detail. The fetishes have custodians, and their worship involves specific rites. The Prey Gods of the Priesthood of the Bow include the 'Knife-Feathered Monster, the Mountain Lion, and the Great White Bear,' which resemble the hunt fetiches but serve a different order.

Cushing's evidence is primarily material: the fetishes themselves, their perforations for suspension, and the sinew bindings that once secured arrow-points. He does not claim to have witnessed the ceremonies. The text is a record of objects and their ascribed meanings, not a full ethnography of practice. Readers should treat the ritual references as fragments of a larger system that Cushing could only partially reconstruct.

Cushing's report is best read as a materialist's account of a symbolic system. The fetishes are not merely illustrations of belief; they are the evidence from which belief is inferred. Pay attention to the stones—limestone, sandstone, calcite—and the ways natural fractures are interpreted as wings or limbs. The text rewards slow reading, especially the plate descriptions, where the author's eye for mineral detail meets Zuñi taxonomy.

Cushing’s quiet reverence for the stone fetishes—their small, bound prayers—always lingers with me longer than I expect. It reminds me how objects can hold devotion. That same feeling surfaced recently while turning through Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature — Reading Notes, where ancient words still feel like something handled, worn smooth by countless faithful fingers. A curious comfort.