Tribal Art

African art and tribal cult vodun of the ewe and fon populations.
These naturalistic figures, depicting a couple or twins venovi , carry a thick crusty film resulting from ritual anointings. An underlying clear wood appears locally. Blackish mate patina.
Au togo, African fetishes are part of beneficial or evil rituals according to the intentions of their owner. The fetishists, following the divination ritual of fa using palm nuts, make them to order to offer protective and medicinal virtues but also offer versions ready to use more conventional. The Ashanti of Ghana also use rare similar statuettes covered with sacrificial coating.
These practices still in use today are sometimes decried and considered animist and gone in the age of Christianization and Islamization. Nevertheless, populations tend to maintain animistic practices despite their conversion to large monotheistic religions.

The Ewe, often mistaken for the Minas, are Togo's largest ethnic group. They are also found as minorities in Ghana, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria. According to Hélène Joubert, the cults rendered to the Yoruba gods, the orisha, and those of the gods vodou, vodun, as well as their religious structure, would be comparable in many ways. Slaves from different cultures have also exported their practices to Cuba and Brazil.Although little historical information is available about the Ewe, it seems that their settlement in their present location is the result of invasions and conflicts that erupted during the 17th century.