SPIRITS LIKE THE SOUND OF THE RATTLE AND DRUM: GEORGE THORNTON EMMONS' COLLECTION OF TLINGIT SHAMANS' KITS. ILIFF, BARBARA ELIZABETH DISSERTATION, 1994 UNDER MOUNT ST. ELIAS: THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT. DE LAGUNA, FREDERICA, 7, 1972

SPIRITS LIKE THE SOUND OF THE RATTLE AND DRUM: GEORGE THORNTON EMMONS' COLLECTION OF TLINGIT SHAMANS' KITS. ILIFF, BARBARA ELIZABETH DISSERTATION, 1994

Brooklyn Museum Collection

Wooden two-piece headdress or helmet mask. The body of the headdress is in the shape of a crocodile head, with big round eyes at front, ears the shape of an inverted V, and a long thick snout full of red teeth, some with rope tied around the base. A dog(?) decorated with white, blue, and red spots is held in the teeth. At the back of the crocodile’s head is a bird attached to the mask at head and feet. It too is decorated with dots, as well as stripes and blocks of colour. On top of the mask is a standing human figure that fits into a hole. The figure is detachable (part b) and has an elaborate headdress, painted facial markings and neck rings. The figure has blue arms, breasts, and buttocks, and red hands and feet. A piece of rope is tied around the right wrist.

The paint is yellow and black.

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.

The paint is black, white, yellow, red, and blue.