Ewe or Fon Vodun Fetish Shell

Fon or Ewé people, mid-20th century, Togo, Benin or Ghana, West Africa

Striking and atmospheric vodun shell fetish, deeply aged through decades of ritual use. The surface shows rich corrosion from libations, beautifully worn contours and traces of faded pigments—an evocative testimony to its long spiritual life.

The traditional Fon religion, regionally called Vodun (“numerous immortal spirits and deities” in Fon and Ewé), encompasses public gods, private or household deities, ancestral spirits, and powerful charms. Central to social and religious life is the ancestral cult: each family maintains a Dexoxos shrine where the tovodu (family gods) are annually honored with offerings, songs, and dance.

In Vodun cosmology, the supreme creator Nana Buluku—both male and female—gave birth to the divine twins Mawu and Lisa: Mawu governing the night, Lisa the day. After creation, Nana Buluku withdrew, leaving the universe to Mawu-Lisa and the vast hierarchy of deities, nature spirits, and ancestral forces that inhabit every part of the landscape, from major natural powers to the spirits of individual trees, rocks, rivers, and clans.

Vodun medicine and healing practices draw on an extensive spiritual and botanical knowledge. Priests and healers employ plants, roots, and dried animal elements in rituals addressing illness and misfortune. Fetishes—objects inhabited by spirits—play a key role in this system. These empowered items, known locally as gbo, gris-gris, juju, or obeah, serve as protective charms, healing devices, and conduits for divine influence. Many are believed to be gifts from Legba (the divine messenger and gatekeeper), Sangbata (earth deity and guardian against wrongdoing), and the mysterious aziza—small forest spirits said to live in anthills and silk-cotton trees.

The Ewé share closely related beliefs, deities, and ritual systems with the Fon. They frequently travel to Benin for shrines and spiritual materials, and honor many of the same gods, including Mawu, Legba, and the pantheon of Yehve spirits. The deity of the sacred forest, Nyigbla, and the thunder god Heviesso hold particular importance, alongside the widespread practice of Afa divination.

This powerful fetish shell stands as an authentic, tactile link to the spiritual technologies and ancestral cosmologies of the Fon and Ewé—an evocative ritual object with profound cultural resonance.

Good condition. Wear commensurate with age and use. Chip and abrasion. Size approx. 13,0cm x 10,0cm x 7,4cm.

Provenance: Dutch private collection.

References and further reading:

African Vodun: Art, Psychology and Power, Suzanne Preston Blier, University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Vodún/Vodu, Resistance, and North/South Relations in Undemocratic Togo, Eric J. Montgomery, Brill, Journal of Religion in Africa, pp. 224-248, 2020.

Vodou, Serving the Spirits, The Pluralism Project, Harward University, 2020.

Four Vodun Ceremonies, George Eaton Simpson, The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 59, No. 232, pp. 154-167, Amercan Folklore Society, 1946.

Contemporary Vodun Arts of Ouidah, Benin, Dana Rush, African Arts, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 32-47 + 94-96, UCLA, 2001.

They Died in Blood: Morality and Communitas in Ewe Ritual, Eric J. Montgomery, Journal of Ritual Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 25-40, 2018.