The Kwakwaka’wakw is a group of Indigenous nations across Canada comprising individual tribes that share some languages, customs, and beliefs.
One of those customs is the secret society of Hamat´sa. New members are initiated each winter during a series of dances and performances.
This ceremony acts out the possession and taming of an initiate possessed by the chief cannibal spirit, Baxwbakwalanuksiwe’.
Participants wear masks like this one for the Hamsamala part of the ceremony, or the “man-eating bird dance”. This mask is called galukwamł — “The Crooked Beak of Heaven” — for Galuxwadzuwus, one of the attendants of the chief cannibal spirit.
To learn more about the Hamat´sa, visit the U’mista Cultural Society website.