Towkit Puppet Headdress Item Number: 2004-2/314 from the The Burke: University of Washington

Exhibit Label

Spirit of the Ancestors-Puppet headdresses representing a skeletal human figure are rare in museum collections. The Towkit (or Toogwid) dancer uses magical puppets to display her supernatural power, part of the Tseyka (or Red Cedar Bark) dances of the Kwakwaka'wakw. This puppet wears a bagwikila, a cedar bark neck ring with a human body, as worn by the Hamat'sa (cannibal dancer), the most prestigious of the Tseyka dance privileges.

Automatically Generated From Material

The paint is red, white, and green.

Item History

What

Name
Towkit Puppet Headdress
Identification Number
2004-2/314
Type of Item
headdress and puppet
Material
wood, cedar bark, leather, graphite, paint, string and horse hair
Manufacturing Technique
carved, painted, braided, tied and nailed
Overall
length 152.0 cm, width 35.0 cm, depth 20.0 cm

Who

Culture
Kwakwaka'wakw
Creator
Beau Dick and Eugene Isaac
Received from
Arthur B. Steinman

Where

Holding Institution
The Burke: University of Washington

Other

Credit
Gift of Arthur B. Steinman
Motif
Human | Skull
Collection
Burke Museum Ethnology Collection