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This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Headdress with frontlet. Frontlet depicts eagle with killer whale above and human-like face below. Painted black around eyes and beak, blue around mouth, red on forehead, side of face, mouth, and claws. Mirrors inset for bird eyes. Frontlet is inlaid with abalone shell pieces around three edges, with an extra, smaller, row on sides. Shell pieces are tied on. Ermine pelts, some with red cloth tied to them, drape down at the sides and back. Only a few sea lion whiskers still extend at top.

History Of Use

Among the Kwakwa̠ka̠’wakw, a frontlet or forehead mask like this is known as a pak̠iwe’. Its name changes to ya̠x̠wiwe’ (“dancing on the forehead”) when it is part of the full headdress — including a cylindrical crown with sea-lion whiskers at the top and an ermine-skin trailer — that is featured in the T’ła’sa̠la or Peace Dances (also known as the Dluwa̠lax̠a or Returned-from-Heaven Dances).

Narrative

Previously belonged to Jim Charlie's father. Said to be 70 years old in 1952. It appears that the ermine train may have originally been longer, as the cloth appears to have been cut off at the bottom?

Item History

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