Fetish figure - Sakalava - Madagascar - Amulet, Magic Horn

Magic Horn No. 1 Length 17 cm x 5 cm, 340 g.
This original, very rare object comes from a spiritual healer (Ombiasa) of the Sakalava people in southern Madagascar. The Ombiasa have a variety of duties in Malagasy belief, he can cast love spells, prepare herb tinctures for all sensible and nonsensical purposes, influence people through trance, or even kill. These practices recall the African Voodoo cults.
To protect against dangers, to preserve health, and to defend against the spirit world, amulets (Ody) are still worn and self-made in southern Madagascar today. Our depicted "Magic Horn" (Mohara) gathers various fetish objects, which, however, have gained strong "powers" through the Ombiasa. The horn itself has in all of Madagascar a special radiance, because it comes from the sacred zebu, which is a symbol of wealth, prestige, and the seat of the ancestors. In the south there is a youth rites ritual through cattle theft; the Mohara are meant to render people invisible during this. Mohara can serve individual purposes, but when used by the Ombiasa they also serve collective rites. Illnesses in Madagascar’s traditional setting are never caused solely by physiological reasons, but are always caused by enchantment, the transgression of prohibitions (fadys), or simply by human witchcraft. Thus esoteric means by healers or astrologers (Mpskidy) are used to drive these sufferings away again.
It consists of a roughly carved zebuhorn, its interior fixed with clay paste, eggs, and blood, containing objects such as coins, medicinal vials, seeds, bones, etc. On the outside and on the cords are beads fixed with cotton thread, the "vakana gasy". This magic horn was not worn at the hip, probably hung around the neck on a cloth. Manufacture around 1955, acquired 1996 in Tulear.