Bocio

Figures such as this were known as Bocio and were utilized by the Fon of the Republic of Benin, the Ewe of Togo, and the Ada of Ghana and Togo, in the cult of Vodun, better known to most as Voodoo.

In reality, the general Western notion of Vodun as a dark system of spirituality based on black magic and curses, is almost the opposite of the actual system of thought. Vodun is largely a protective religion based on the manipulation of objects by ritualists who are able to establish through spirit mediation a return to status quo when things have gone amiss either by the witchcraft of others or by the individual's ignoring of ancestral or cultural taboos.

The figures carved for Vodun are sold in marketplaces and are completely powerless at that stage – merely empty receptacles for a spirit or power that only the ritualist can add. A figure such as this would have been purchased by a family (due to its size) and when empowered would have guarded or protected a compound. The face retains the heavy blood sacrifice, usually of chickens. At one time, the figure was likely completely wrapped in a red cloth that was saturated and caked with blood. It is obvious to see why such an object would have been disposed of when the piece was removed from context.

In traditional use, figures such as these, with locks and occasionally heavy rolls of rope and coils of metal, far from being images of darkness ‘binding a spirit in’, were quite benevolent. In fact, the vast majority of ‘lock fetishes’ were made to protect the family compound by removing the evil temptation of a spouse to ‘stray’, hence the figure would have new locks added at each marriage in the family and would symbolically aid in the binding of the couple together in the presence of an ancestral figure.

The central cavity in the abdomen was once likely filled with some form of organic matter or sand from a grave of an ancestor; this would empower the figure, but would also be important enough to remove before selling to Westerners.