Notes

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.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.