Fetishism (religion)

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Depiction of a South African fetish by the London Missionary Society , circa 1900.
Fetish altar of voodoo

Fetishism ( Latin facticius : imitation, artificial; French fétiche : magic [medium]) denotes in the religious sense the belief in supernatural personal spirits or impersonal powers that dwell in certain objects and their veneration as sacred objects. The power of a fetish can be activated and increased through gifts or sacrifices . In this sense, fetishes must be treated like humans in order to develop their power. In principle, any object can become a fetish.

This concept, originally from West Africa, is a limited variety of animism (everything is animated) or animatism (everything is animated), but not - as the French geographer Charles de Brosses assumed in his book Du culte des dieux fétiches in 1760 - the origin or a component of a "universal original religion" (see also animism in the theory of religion ). From the beginning the term has been used in a pejorative (derogatory) way for religious objects of all kinds. To this extent, the concept of fetishism is now considered outdated (see also dead ends in ethnological research on religion ).

Fetishism (e.g. Voodoo ) is still widespread today, especially in West Africa (especially Benin ) and among the spiritualist Afro-American religions .

Use of words

Voodoo fetish market in Lomé , Togo , 2008

Fetishism is a -ism formation to fetish , from French fétiche , this in Portuguese feitiço "fake", "artificial", "imitation"; "Sorcery", "witchcraft", from Latin factīcius "imitated". The etymology is the same as that of sexual fetishism .

In an extension of the term to the non-religious and atheistic area, the term fetishism - especially in the sense of Karl Marx - also includes the religion-like "irrational" worship of objects with special meaning for one's own identity, which are believed to have a special effect on subjective well-being , as well as according to Sigmund Freud "emotional fixations" in our society (see definition of fetishism ).

To the subject

The term fetishism is based on the Western -style distinction between deity (s) and creation on the one hand and between animate and inanimate nature on the other. In this way of thinking, only gods and living beings are trusted - if at all - to have an effect that goes beyond the physical-physical ( somatism in medicine). Ethnic religions often do not recognize these distinctions. Hence fetishism is a Eurocentric construct. The concept of fetishism is not a classifier of any particular type of religion. This original meaning, as represented by Auguste Comte with his three-stage law , drew increasing criticism in the 20th century, so that the name was finally dropped.

Differentiation from similar objects

The term fetish is still used to some extent. The broad meaning of obsolete fetishism has resulted in similar objects being confused or equated with fetishes. That is why the term is now often replaced by the native names in order to avoid this.

In this sense - as is often wrongly found -

  • Talismans (specially made, spiritually consecrated lucky charms),
  • Amulets (specially made, spiritually consecrated, magically charged objects that protect against damage and disease)
  • Idols (image, symbol of a god)
  • Totems (sacred group badge that proves the relationship with a certain natural phenomenon)
  • Tjuringas (magically sacred objects of some Aboriginal tribes - often made of wood or stone - similar to totems)
  • Medicine bag (storage place for sacred objects with North American Indians)

no fetishes

See also

literature

  • Johannes Endres (Ed.): Fetishism. Basic texts from the 18th century to the present day , suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-518-29761-2 .

Web links

Commons : Fetishism (Religion)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Walter Hirschberg (founder), Wolfgang Müller (editor): Dictionary of Ethnology. New edition, 2nd edition, Reimer, Berlin 2005. p. 125.
  2. ↑ a b Richard Thurnwald: The human spirit's awakening, growing and erring. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1951. pp. 87-89.
  3. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica . 15th edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Chicago 1993, ISBN 0-85229-571-5 , Vol. 26, p. 539 1a.
  4. ↑ Julien Ries: Origin of Religions. Pattloch Verlag, Augsburg 1993, ISBN 3-629-00078-9 , p. 14.
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Pfeifer among other things: Etymological dictionary of German. 4th edition. dtv, Munich 1999, p. 338f.