Buffalo Hunting Fetish Jar [SOLD]

Buffalo Hunting Fetish Jar

As told to Ruth F. Kirk

Published in El Palacio, Vol. 57, No. 5, May 1950

This was recorded by Ruth F. Kirk of Gallup, New Mexico, in conversation with an informant from Zuni Pueblo, referring to a Zuni Buffalo Hunting Fetish Jar she was purchasing.  The informant’s comments cover 10 pages of the article.

Kirk’s comments refer to changes occurring over time with reluctance.  Some of the ceremonial functions no longer are practiced at Zuni as modern-day events surpass them.  “For instance, modern medical practice supplants archaic beast god cult rites. Guns have come and wild animals have been slaughtered; so hunting ceremonialism is on the want and hunting mythology is being forgotten.  As rites fall into disuse, the paraphernalia connected with them is laid aside and becomes a burden to the owners. Masks and fetishes must be prayed over—often every day—as well as cleaned and renewed from season to season.  When the songs are forgotten, and new generations scarcely even recall the uses to which the things had formerly been put, necessary care becomes onerous. Then the people prefer to dispense with traditional customs.” Kirk 1950