Fetish (1) - Wood - Boccio - Fon - Benin

The name Botchio (Boccio, Bocio, Botchio) consists in two distinct words, ‘BO’ which means ‘power, evil spell’ and ‘CIO’ which refers to a ‘corpse’. It is part of a vast pantheon of deities, unified in the 17th century during the creation of the Voodoo rite. Like other divinities, the Bocio also receives offerings (calabashes, asen, pieces of iron which are supposed to represent the ancestors, cowry shells) . It is fed with palm oil and animal blood, while placed under a little shelter covered with palm leaves. From this place, it can perform its powers. The Bocio is a sentinel which will guard the house, the clan, the village, a secret society, or an individual. It has sometimes been claimed that it adopts the misleading appearance of the head of the family, with the features of a corpse, to dissuade the enemy of casting a spell. Nevertheless, it is usually said that it becomes the corpse of the evil spell that was cast against the inhabitant of the house it guards. It even happened that a slave was attached to it, in order to absorb or to radically stop the spell. The Bocio fetish can be used either for beneficial purposes, or for evil ones. Its primary function is to communicate with the spirits of the other world, in order to chase away evil forces. The Bocio fetish is not to be mistaken with the Bocio stake which is usually placed at the entry of the houses and symbolises the Vodun Legba god, guardian of the house and of the family. Adapted from the texts of Jacques Kerchache, especially from pages 29/30 of the book ‘Vaudou’. There are figurines of all dimensions, with or without iron, with some iron inlaid in the summit of the head (Gud, Gu?) , with double heads. . . Ex Collection Artist Reno - Bought in Antwerp in 1982