Mask, Man's Face
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Dec 1883
label: Collection Date
content: 1883
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on artfact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=625 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Mask The exact meaning of this mask - depicting a man's face with painted facial designs - has not been determined. Some Haida masks represent supernatural beings that were believed to possess chiefs and noble dancers during winter secret society performances. One of these was Walala, the Cannibal Spirit. Walala dancers bit onlookers and pretended to eat human flesh; those possessed by Bear, Wild Man, Beggar, and other spirits enacted the behaviors of those beings.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) / Graham Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haida
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013804
label: USNM Number
content: E88936-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 27.2 cm