Wooden Fetish "Obeah Figure"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 29 Jan 1885
name: label: Donor Name
content: Dr. George W. Samson
notes: label: Notes
content: SPECIMEN IS OF WOOD, CLOTH, AND GLASS COMPOSITION AND REFLECTS REMNANTS OF AFRICAN-DERIVED SLAVE RELGIOUS BELIEFS IN JAMAICA. USED IN THE PRACTICE OF OBEAH, THE LOCAL TERM FOR SORCERY, THIS FIGURE HAS SMALL BROKEN PIECES OF MIRROR FOR EYES AND A LARGER PIECE INSERTED IN THE ABDOMEN. IN AFRO-JAMAICAN BELIEF MIRROS ARE REPUTEDLY USED BY OBEAH WORKERS TO CATCH THE SPIRITS OF THEIR INTENDED VICTIMS. IN THIS FETISH THERE IS THE CONNOTATIONS OF MYSTICAL SIGHT ATTRIBUTED TO THE OBEAHMAN AS A "FOUR- EYED" PERSON WITH BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL SIGHT. ARMS AND LEGS OF THE FIGURE ARTICULATE AT SHOULDER AND PELVIS/KNEES RESPECTIVELY. THE HANDS ARE CARVED IN CUPPED FASHION SO THAT FIGURE COULD BE HUNG BY THE ARMS. TWO SMALL GREEN BUTTONS WITH SHAMROCKS ARE TIED AROUND THE NECK AND LONGITUDINAL HOLES ARE BORED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BODY FROM SHOULDERS TO PELVIS, POSSIBLY TO CONTAIN "POWDER", AMBER, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES USED IN OBEAH PRACTICE. (SEE MARTHA BECKWITH, 1929 BLACK ROADWAYS: A STUDY IN JAMAICAN FOLK LIFE. NEGRO UNIVERSITY PRESS.)
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Jun 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Jamaica, Caribbean
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Afro-Jamaican
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 015674
label: USNM Number
content: E74836-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Fetish