A fetish (from French fétiche; from Portuguese feitiço; from Latin facticius, "artificial" and facere, "to make") is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular a man-made object that has power over others. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

History

The concept was coined by Charles de Brosses in 1757, while comparing West African religion to the magical aspects of Ancient Egyptian religion. He and other 18th century scholars used the concept to apply evolution theory to religion. In de Brosses' theory of the evolution of religion, he proposed that fetishism is the earliest (most primitive) stage, followed by the stages of polytheism and monotheism and totemism to account for fetishism. Essentially, fetishism is attributing some kind of inherent value or powers to an object. For example, the person who sees magical or divine significance in a material object is mistakenly ascribing inherent value to some object which does not possess that value (hence Marx's commodity fetishism: belief that objects control us, i.e. influence our actions, when it is really the other way around) This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... This article is about biological evolution. ... Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple gods or deities. ... In theology, monotheism (Greek μόνος(monos) = single and θεός(theos) = God) is the belief in the existence of one deity or God, or in the oneness of God. ... Totemism (derived from the root -oode in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related) is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. ...

In the 19th century, Tylor and McLennan held that the concept of fetishism allowed historians of religion to shift attention from the relationship between people and God to the relationship between people and material objects. They also held that it established models of causal explanations of natural events which they considered false as a central problem in history and sociology. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

Practice

Theoretically, fetishism is present in all religions, but its use in the study of religion is derived from studies of traditional West African religious beliefs, as well as Voodoo, which is derived from those beliefs.  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally unwritten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. ...

Blood is often considered a particularly powerful fetish or ingredient in fetishes. In some parts of Africa, the hair of white people was also considered powerful. Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... A strand of human hair under magnification Hair is also the name of a musical, see respective articles for the stage production and the movie. ...

In addition to blood, other objects and substances, such as bones, fur, claws, feathers, water from certain places, certain types of plants, and wood are common fetishes in the traditions of cultures worldwide. Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... Grays Anatomy illustration of a human femur. ... A dogs fur usually consists of longer, stiffer, guard hairs—which can be straight, wiry, or wavy, and of various lengths, hiding a soft, short-haired undercoat. ... CLAWS can also refer to the web site of Creating Livable Alternatives to Wage Slavery (CLAWS)[1] CLAWS is a modular open-source software package that provides account and identity management functions in a heterogeneous computing environment. ... Two feathers Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ... Impact of a drop of water. ... u fuck in ua ... Woods may refer to: woodland or forest types of wood a category of golf clubs Various notable people have the surname Woods: Don Woods, computer programmer George David Woods, USA banker and World Bank President George Lemuel Woods, USA Oregon State and Utah Territory governor James Woods, actor Jermaine Woods...

Other uses of the term "fetishism"

• In the 19th century Karl Marx appropriated the term to describe commodity fetishism as an important component of capitalism. Nowadays, (commodity and capital) fetishism is a central concept of marxism
• Later Sigmund Freud appropriated the concept to describe a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is an inanimate object or a specific part of a person; see sexual fetish.
• The original meaning has been an inspiration to computer game creators.
  • In the Werewolf: The Apocalypse roleplaying games, fetishes are weapons or other items with spirits bound to them, enabling said items to do extraordinary things. An example would be a pistol with a hawk-spirit that would always shoot the user's target between the eyes.
  • In the Capcom game Devil May Cry, Fetish is a powered-up version of the Marionette enemies, with the ability to blow fire and use yo-yo type weapons instead of blades.
  • In Act III of Diablo 2, a type of enemy are called Fetishes. They are divided into the subtypes Fetish, Flayer, Soul Killer, and Stygian Dolls (as well as Undead Stygian Dolls). All monsters of the fetish type are short, roughly half human height and based on their death animation and super-type(demon), they appear to be demonically possessed dolls.
  • In Clen Cook's fantasy series, The Black Company, carved stone fetishes are used to bind the Dominator within the graveyard known as the Barrowlands.

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... In Marxist theory, commodity fetishism is an inauthentic state of social relations, said to arise in complex capitalist market systems, where social relationships are confused with their medium, the commodity. ... Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately[1] owned and operated for profit, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ... Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939; (IPA pronunciation: [] in German, [] in English) was a Jewish-Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sexual fetishism, first described as such by Sigmund Freud though the concept and certainly the activity is quite ancient, is a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is a specific inanimate object or part of a persons body. ... This articles content is specific to the fictional setting known as the World of Darkness. ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... A human eye. ... For the original NASA meaning, see capsule communicator. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Phillip Huber (L) and David Alexander of the Huber Marionettes perform with marionettes hand-made by Huber for scenes for the feature film Tillamook Treasure 2005 Marionette in Prague A marionette is a type of puppet moved by strings, as in a puppet show. ... The yo-yo is a toy consisting of two equally-sized discs of plastic, wood, or metal, connected with an axle, around which a string is wound. ... For other uses of the word blade, see Blade (disambiguation) A blade is the part of a sword that is used to cut (as opposed to the hilt). ... Diablo Diablo II is an action-oriented adventure and role-playing game (RPG) in a hack and slash style designed as a sequel to the popular Diablo. ... Cover of the first novel in the series, The Black Company. The Black Company is a series of novels by author Glen Cook. ...

See also

• Tractor Fetisj
• Idolatry
• Animism
• Totemism
• Taboo
• Conspicuous consumption
• the book Growth Fetish
• Sexual fetishism

Tractor Fetisj is a new Fetisj spotted in the beginning of the 21st century. ... Idolatry is a major sin in the Abrahamic religions regarding image. ... Animism is a belief system that does not accept the separation of body and soul, of spirit from matter. ... Totemism (derived from the root -oode in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related) is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. ... A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) against words, objects, actions, discussions, or people that are considered undesirable by a group, culture, or society. ... Conspicuous consumption is a term introduced by the American economist Thorstein Veblen, in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). ... Growth Fetish is a book (ISBN 1741140781) about economics and politics by the Australian left-wing political theorist Clive Hamilton. ... The basic idea of sexual fetishism is sexual arousal and satisfaction through an inanimate object, the fetish. ...

External links

• The Catholic Encyclopaedia: fetishism - The catholic view.
• Andrew Lang, Fetishism and Spiritualism, The Making of Religion, (Chapter VIII), Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 147-159.