Chapter Xiv. Fetich Its Relation To The Future : CHAPTER XIV FETICH--ITS RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE--CEREMONIES AT DEATHS AND FUNERALS WHEN a heathen Negro is sick, the first thing done, just as in civilized lands, is to call the "doctor," who is to find out what is the particular kind of spirit that, by invading the patient's body, has caused...
Chapter Iv.spiritual Beings In African Religion : CHAPTER IV SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION THE belief in spiritual beings opens an immense vista of the purely superstitious side of the theology of Bantu African religion. All the air and the future is peopled with a large and indefinite company of these beings. The attitude of the Cre...
Chapter Iii. Polytheism Idolatry : CHAPTER III POLYTHEISM--IDOLATRY CIVILIZATION and religion do not necessirily move with equal pace. Whatever is really best in the ethics of civilization is derived from religion. If civilization falls backward, religion probably has already weakened or will also fall. The converse is not...
Chapter Viii. The Fetich Witchcraft A White : CHAPTER VIII THE FETICH--WITCHCRAFT--A WHITE ART--SORCERY HUNDREDS of acts and practices in the life of Christian households in civilized lands pass muster before the bar of sthetic propriety and society, and even of the church, as not only harmless and allowable, but as commendable, and conducive...
Glossary : GLOSSARY A. Abuna, abundance. Aganlo, children of mixed mortal and fairy birth. Akazya, a poisonous tree. Amie, do not know. Anlingo, water. Ant (sing. inty), eyes. Anyambe, the Divine Name. Aweme, yourself. Ayenwe, unseen. B. Bbk, consent thou. Behu, kitchen garden. Benda, a kind of rat. Bi...
Chapter V. Spiritual Beings In Africa Their : CHAPTER V SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICA-THEIR CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS INEQUALITIES among the spirits themselves, though they are so great, indicate no more than simple differentiations of character or work. Yet so radical are these varieties, and so distinct the names applied to them, that I am...
Chapter Vii. The Fetich A Worship : CHAPTER VII THE FETICH-A WORSHIP WORSHIP is an eminent part of every form of religion, but it is not essential to it. True, most religions have some form of worship. But a belief would still be a religion, even if it were so insignificant or so degraded or so indifferent as not to care to express...
Chapter Vi. Fetichism Its Philosophy A Physical : CHAPTER VI FETICHISM--ITS PHILOSOPHY--A PHYSICAL SALVATION--CHARMS AND AMULETS EVEN during the while that man was still a monotheist, as seen in a previous chapter, be had eventually come to the use of idols which he did not actually worship, by the making of images simply to represent God; be had...
Chapter Xii. The Fetich Its Relations : CHAPTER XII THE FETICH--ITS RELATIONS TO DAILY WORK AND OCCUPATIONS AND TO THE NEEDS OF LIFE IN the great emergencies of life, such as plagues, famines, deaths, funerals, and where witchcraft and black art are suspected, the aid or intervention of special fetiches is invoked, as has been described...
Title Page : FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA Forty Years' Observation Of Native Customs And Superstitions BY THE REV. ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU, M.D.--S.T.D. FOR FORTY YEARS A MISSIONARY IN THE GABUN DISTRICT OF KONGO-FRANCAISE WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS published in 1904 by Charles Scribners Son
Chapter Ix. The Fetich Witchcraft A Black : CHAPTER IX THE FETICH--WITCHCRAFT--A BLACK ART--DEMONOLOGY THE distinction sought to be made by the half-civilized Negro between a white art and a black art, as a justification of his practice of fetich enchantments, lies in the object to be obtained by their use, He vainly tries to find a parallel...
Chapter Xvii. Fetich In Folk Lore : CHAPTER XVII FETICH IN FOLK-LORE THE telling of Folk-lore Tales amounts, with the African Negro, almost to a passion. By day, both men and women have their manual occupations, or, even if idling, pass the time in sleep or gossip; but at night, particularly with moonlight, if there be on hand no...
Chapter Xv. Fetichism Some Of Its Practical : CHAPTER XV FETICHISM--SOME OF ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS DEPOPULATION. ONE of the effects of witchcraft beliefs in Africa is the depopulation of that continent. Over enormous areas of the country the death rate has exceeded the birth rate. Much of Africa is desert--the Sahara of the north...
Chapter Xi. The Fetich Its Relation To The Family : CHAPTER XI THE FETICH--ITS RELATION TO THE FAMILY IN most tribes of the Bantu the unit in the constitution of the community is the family, not the individual. However successful a man may be in trade, hunting, or any other means of gaining wealth, he cannot, even if he would, keep it all to himself...
Chapter Xiii. The Fetich Superstition In Customs : CHAPTER XIII THE FETICH--SUPERSTITION IN CUSTOMS THE observances of fetich worship fade off into the customs and habits of life by gradations, so that in some of the superstitious beliefs, while there may be no formal handling of a fetich amulet containing a spirit, nor actual prayer or sacrifice...
Chapter Xvi. Tales Of Fetich Based On Fact : CHAPTER XVI TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT THE view-point of the native African mind, in all unusual occurrences, is that of witchcraft. Without looking for an explanation in what civilization would call natural causes, his thought turns at once to the supernatural. Indeed, the supernatural is so...
Chapter Ii. The Idea Of God Religion : CHAPTER II THE IDEA OF GOD--RELIGION MISSIONARY PAUL of Tarsus, in the polite exordium of his great address to the Athenian philosophers on Mars Hill, courteously tells them that be believes them to be a very"religious" people,--indeed, too much so in their broad-church willingness to give room...
Preface : PREFACE ON the 2d of July, 1861, I sailed from New York City on a little brig, the "Ocean Eagle," with destination to the island of Corisco, near the equator, on the West Coast of Africa. My first introduction to the natives of Africa was a month later, when the vessel stopped at Monrovi...
Chapter X. Fetichism A Government : CHAPTER X FETICHISM--A GOVERNMENT IN civilization, under governments other than autocratic, law being made and executed, at least professedly, with the consent of the governed, all enactments find not only their justification, but also the possibility of their enforcement, in their support by...
Chapter I. Constitution Of Native Afric : FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA CHAPTER I CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE AFRICAN SOCIETY--SOCIOLOGY THAT stream of the Negro race which is known ethnologically as "Bantu," occupies all of the southern portion of the African continent below the fourth degree of north latitude. It is divided into a multitude...