#kwakiutl

[baebeylik]

Dance Apron. Kwakiutl. First Nations, British Columbia, Canada. 20th Century.

New Orleans Museum of Art.

[formlines]

Sea Wolf Mask

Troy Kwakseethala

[archivist-crow]

BAKBAKWAKANOOKSIEWAE

Among the Kwakiutl of north-west Canada lives a great bird called Bakbakwakanooksiewae ('the Cannibal at the North End of the World'). His other name is Hokhoku. With his wife human Galokwudzuwis, he pursues human beings, smashing in their skulls and devouring the exposed brains. The Kwakiutl enact a dance in which a youth is captured and transformed into Bakbakwakanooksiewae, wearing a beaked mask.

Text from The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John and Caitlin Matthews (HarperElement, 2005)

[philoursmars]

Le jour du Mardi Gras, je suis allé à Binche, ville wallonne de Belgique, pour assister au Carnaval. J'en ai profité pour visiter le très intéressant Mumask (Musée international du Carnaval et du Masque). Ici l'aile des masques et costumes du Monde.

masque de Ratri,déesse de la Nuit, pour les danses "Chhau", fête de Chaitra Parva - Purulia, Inde, fin XXe s.

masque-heaume corbeau - kwakiutl, Colombie-Britannique, Canada

masque du "yuo" ('Esprit) de la pluie - yup'ik, Alaska, XXe s.

en haut : tambour de danse - tsimshian, Alaska, XXIe s. ; Esprit de la Pluie (voir photo ") ; masque du dieu calao Simbo Bagoun - bwa, Burkina-Faso ; corbeau (voir photo 2)

masque-lame "yehoti" (masque-papillon) - bwa, Burkina Faso et...

...masque de Corni, personnage cueilleur de cornouiller - Roumanie, fin XXe s.

[treasuresfromthearchives]

[The wasp with buzzing whir will chase them all away]

1910–1914

Edward S. Curtis (American, 1868 - 1952)

"Animal-costumed figure (Kwakiutl) standing with outstretched arms in front of totem"

[prominentmen]

"Masked dancers" (Kwakwaka'wakw tribe) by Edward S. Curtis, ca. 1907-1930.

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldOrcaDay here are 2 examples of #orca (aka killer whale) headdresses from the Northwest Coast that the dancer could animate with moving parts:

1. Haida - “dancer could roll its eyes or move lower jaw” Carnegie Museum of Natural History

2. Kwakiutl - “dancer pulled strings to make the pectoral fins, tail flukes & jaw move” Field Museum

[doubtspirit]

Edward Sheriff Curtis, 1914 - "A Tlüwùláhù MASK-TSAWATENOK" Kwakiutl man wearing a mask depicting a loon on top of a man's head to facilitate the loon changing into the form of a man.

The Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw or Kwakiutl ("Kwak'wala-speaking peoples") are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, in southwestern Canada. They are politically-organized into 13 band gouvernements, united by the common language of Kwakʼwala, known as Kwak̓wala, 'Nak̓wala, G̱uc̓ala and T̓łat̓łasik̓wala. According to Kwakwaka'wakw folklore their ancestors (‘na’mima) came to a given spot — by way of land, sea, or underground — in the form of ancestral animals that upon arrival shed their animal appearance and became human.