A 40-Year Journey Among Zuñi Fetishes
Why is a twenty-year resident from Lincoln County writing an article for the Gallup Journey? During these years I have regularly traveled from the home of Smoky Bear, over 285 miles to reach Gallup across the sparsely populated back roads along US 60 and into the southernmost part of McKinley County to the Zuñi Reservation. Why? To continue my passion — buying Zuñi fetishes, meeting with carvers and area traders. But it didn't
22 October 2021
start then. My introduction was in 1980 when I first visited Zuñi, as an itinerant teacher-trainer for the public schools. Later I became a teacher-trainer for the Gallup schools, many of the nearby outlying schools within McKinley County, and also in twenty-three other states during a fifteen-year teaching career. In conjunction with these teaching activities I became, and still am, an itinerant trader of Zuñi fetishes and jewelry throughout the country, continually traveling numerous times each year to Zuñi along the New Mexico backroads to buy and to meet with carvers and their families. What is it about fetishes that attracted me and became an obsession to own some and to share some with so many in so many places? [Speaking of obsessions, among the general public the term 'fetish' is still considered to be an 'erotic obsession.' Perhaps that confusion of terms attracted the curious
Orin Eriacho
Albert Eustace
and helped create the current and growing cachet of the carvings] Once I was introduced to fetishes, the first being a gift from a young schoolgirl, I was hooked. I bought all I could and realized that if I sold some, I could become a collector. That became my mantra: buy, collect and sell. The fetish
trade, for public consumption, although only fifty years old at that time, was enjoying a new start and a revitalization. Fetishes have always been an integral part of Zuñi culture, from their origins as found stone objects, often referred to as concretions, to simply shaped objects of reverence. The craft then progressed to hand-carved representations of mostly animal images, based on the belief that the spirit of the animal is embedded within the stones, antlers or other natural materials. The revitalization of the fetish trade occurred in the 1980s when two groups of young carvers, comprising over 15 children from the Quam and Quandelacy carving families, brought new ideas, new materials, new designs and new techniques to fetish carving. There was an 'explosion' of talent and production. Many other families had been and continue to be involved in the growth and changes in carving, including the Weahkee and Leekya families, now in their 5th and 4th generations of carvers. This sudden, increased output and newly created demand among collectors were coordinated by a large group of itinerant traders. They bought and brought fetishes directly to stores and galleries throughout the country. Their efforts changed the perception of
