Higas & figas (fig-hand)
Meaning
The higa (Spanish) or figa (Portuguese and Italian mano fico) is a fist with the thumb thrust between the first two fingers, an obscene gesture representing the sexual act. The obscenity itself is the weapon: it distracts and insults the evil eye.
Intent
It was hung on babies and children in Spain and Portugal against mal de ojo, often carved in black jet from Santiago de Compostela (whose jet also protected), or in coral, crystal, bone or silver.
Significance
It shows how the Roman fascinum's logic survived in a Christian world through a gesture. In Brazil the figa became a national good-luck charm, and it appears in Spanish art, including in Velázquez's portraits of royal children.
History
The fig-hand gesture is Roman and appears in amulets from the 1st century CE. Jet higas were produced at Santiago from the 15th century, and the type flourished in 17th–19th century Spain and colonial Latin America.
Making yours
2–6 cm. Carve jet or black horn, polish, and add a cuff band with a silver cap and loop at the wrist.Mediterranean & Iberian Folk: the tradition
Southern Italy and Spain kept the Roman fight against the evil eye going without a break. In Naples the belief in jettatura, the unlucky glance, was taken seriously enough that 19th-century gentlemen made the horns sign in their pockets; Nicola Valletta's Cicalata sul fascino volgarmente detto jettatura (1787) is its classic text. Spanish children wore belts hung with jet higas, crystal, coral and chestnuts. Walter Leo Hildburgh collected thousands of these amulets in the early 20th century and gave them to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Pitt Rivers and the Wellcome, which is why so many are in British museums today.
Amulet of a jet fist (higa) mounted in silver, Spain, 1800-1900Spain · 1800-1900
Black jet higa amulet in a silver mount, Cordoba (Spain), 1865-1870cordoba · 1865-1870
Pierced silver crescent with fig hand at the base, Seville (Spain), 1750-1850seville · 1750-1850
Colonia de exploatare a sării de la Beclean - Băile FigaRomania · -1000
Schwartz, FigaGermany
M0016756: Elaborate jet fig-hands, 3 fomed as saints
Glass, milky beads, fig-hands and beads.
A double fighand of horn in silver mount.
Elaborate jet Fig-hands, 3 formed as saints.
Fig-hands attached to other things.More from Mediterranean & Iberian Folk: Cimaruta (sprig of rue) · Cornicello & horn amulets · Spanish child’s amulets (dijes & chupadores) · Neapolitan charms (sirena & others) · Other & unsorted Mediterranean
Every type in the gallery
Anything in the gallery can be made: any piece, any tradition, in its own material or yours, by hand from the documented original. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted before anything is made. I reply within one business day.