FESTIVALS IN THE CHRIST. CH. 540
FETTER
1670) ; Meyer, De tempor. eifestis dieb. Hehrmor. (Amst. 1724 ; also in Ugolini Tfiesanr. i) ; Creilncr, Joel, p. 213 sq. ; Haur, in the Tubing. Zn(sckr. 1832, iii, 125 sq. ; Georgi', Die iilte jud. Feste (Berlin, 1835) ; I'airbairn, Typolof/ij, ii, 403 sq. ; INIeusel, Biblioth. histor. I, ii, 1G8 p([. ; Hospinianus, Be fiid. diebus Judceor. Gracor. etc. (Zur. 1592) ; Pfriem, De fistic. Ilehrmnr. (Bamb. 1765) ; Seligmanu, D.is jiid. Ceremoniell hei Festcn (Hamburg, 1722) ; Spencer, De Legibus Ilebrworum Ritualihns et eirum riitiniiibus (Cantabrigi*, 1727); TUxXw, Sgmbolik des Mosdiscktn Cidtus (Heidelberg, 1839), ii, 525 sq. ; Ewald, Zlie Alterthiimer des Volkes Israel (Gcittingen, 1854), p. 379 sq. ; De Feriarum Ilthraarwni origine ac rntlone (Gottinga;, 1841) ; Creuzer, Si/mbol. ii, 597 ; SaalschUtz, Archdologle der Ilebrder (Konigsb. 1855), p. 207 sq. ; Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel (Nord- hausen, 1857), ii, lOG sq. ; Jost, Geschichte des Jiiden- thums (Leipzig, 1857), i, 158 sq. ; Raphall, Festivcds of the Lord (Lond. 1839) ; Hupfeld, De festis Ileb. ex legi- bus Mosaicis (Hal. 1865). See Sacrifice.
Festivals in the Christian Church. See Feasts.
Fes'tus (festal), Porcids (Grtecized UuoKiog $<}- (TToc), the successor of Felix as procurator of Judaea (Acts xxiv, 27 ; Joseph. A?it. xx, 8, 9 ; War, ii, 14, 1), sent by Nero, probablj^ in the autumn of A.D. 55. See Felix. A few weeks after Festus reached his province he heard the cause of the apostle Paul, who had been left a prisoner by Felix, in the presence of Herod Agrippa II. and Bcrnice his sister. Not find- ing any thing in the apostle worthy of death or of Londs, and being confirmed in this view by his guests, he would liave set him free iiad it not been that Paul had himself previously (Acts xxv, 11, 12) appealed to Cffis.ir. In consequence, Festus sent liim to Rome. See Paul. Judaea was in the same disturbed state during the procuratorship of Festus, which had pre- vailed through tiiat of his predecessor. Sicarii, rob- bers, and magicians were put down with a strong hand (Ant. XX, 8, 10). Festus had a difference with the Jews at Jerusalem about a high wall which they had built to prevent Agrippa seeing from his palace into the court of the Temple. As this also hid the view of the Temple from the Roman guard appointed to watch it during the festivals, the procurator took strongly the side of Agrippa, but permitted the Jews to send to Roma for the decision of tlie emperor. He, being influenced by Poppaea, who was a proselyte (Joseph. Ant. XX, 8, 11), decided in favor of the Jews. Festus probablj' died in the summer of A.D. 62, and was suc- ceeded by Albinus (Joseph. Il^ar, xx, 9, 1). The chronological questions concerning his entrance on the province and his death are too intricate and difficult to be entered on here, but will be found fulh' discussed by Anger, De temporum in .1 ct. Apost. rathine, p. 99 sq. ; and Wieseler, Chronnlngie der Apostelgesrhichte, p. 89- 91). See also Chronology. Josephus implies ( ITa?', ii, 14, 1) that Festus was a just as well as an active magistrate. — Smith, s. v.
Fetichisni or Fetishism, a term rccentlj' intro- duced to denote the lowest forms of human worship, "in which tlie sliapeless stone, the meanest reptile, or any object however worthless or insignificant, is conse- crated by a vague and mysterious reverence" (IMilman). It is derived from Feitico, a term borrowed from the Portugueseyc/i's.so, and used In' the negroes of Senegal to denote an instrument of witchcraft. It was first brought into use in Europe by De Brosses, in his Du Guile des Dleu-c. Fetiches (Dijon, 1760). Fetichism is practised in Greenland, Africa, Australia, and Liberia. Tlie fetiches in use in Africa arc either natural (as a tiger, serpent, etc.) or artijicial (as skins or claws of beasts, stones, etc.). Sometimes a single fetich is made the object of worship for a whole tribe, e. g. the tiger in Dahomey, the serpent by the Whj'dahs. The negroes of Benin make a feticli of their own shadows. But, besides these, each individual almost has his own
particular fetich or fetiches. Any object may become one b}' the merest accident ; e. g. by having been the subject of a dream. When any one has a fetich sup- posed to possess extraordinary powers of injuring oth- ers, no eftbrts are spared to get it from tlie owner. Collections of them are highly prized, and a traveller on the coast of Guinea saw as many as 20,000 fetiches in the possession of one negro. Sometimes they are purely imaginar}', and are fantastic forms, such as are never found in nature, and generally contrived for tlie purpose of producing fear. At Cape Coast there is a public guardian fetich, supreme in power and dignit)'. This is a rock wliicli projects into the sea from tlie bottom of the cliff on which the castle is built. To this rock annual sacrifices are presented, and the re- sponses given through the priests are rewarded by the blinded devotees.
With regard to the religious relation between the fetiches and their worshippers, we find that, although undoubtedly sinking often to the rank of mere instru- ments of sorcerj' in practice, fetiches are j'et essen- tially idols. Thej'^ receive, every morning and even- ing, offerings of spices, milk, toliacco, etc., and are alwa3'S approached with marks of respect and of fear. They are resorted to for protection against lightning, beasts of prey, murder, etc. They also serve to pro- tect propertj^ to attest oaths, and the negroes have even a vague idea that after death they will have to render an account to their fetiches. Yet the moral hold of the fetich over its worshipper is, after all, verj' weak ; the object of worship is discarded or broken as soon as its efficacy is distrusted.