Open source Elasticsearch & Next.js museum search.
Wild Man Mask | musefully
John H. Livingston. Wild Man Mask, 1970. Cedar wood, pigment, hair, 11 5/8 x 7 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. (29.5 x 19.1 x 20.6 cm). Gift of Fred Nihda, 1996.203. Creative Commons-BY.
This mask represents Bak’was, a malevolent, ghostly spirit and the keeper of drowned souls in Kwakwaka’wakw culture. Although he is diminutive, his stride is four times the length of a man’s. He has a green, hairy body and a skeletal visage. Those drawn into the forest by him or who eat his food go mad, losing their souls and becoming part of his ghostly retinue. A soul can be saved by subduing Bak’was with menstrual blood. Bak’was appears when family ancestral masks are worn during performances of Tla’sala potlatch ceremonies, special tribal celebrations.
Esta máscara representa a Bak’was, un espíritu fantasmal malévolo, guardián de las almas ahogadas en la cultura Kwakwaka’wakw. Aunque diminuto, sus pasos son cuatro veces el largo de los de un hombre. Tiene un cuerpo verde y peludo y rasgos esqueléticos. Aquellos empujados al bosque por él, o los que han comido de su comida enloquecen, perdiendo sus almas y volviéndose parte de su séquito fantasmal. El alma puede salvarse sometiendo a Bak’was con sangre menstrual. Bak’was aparece cuando máscaras ancestrales familiares se utilizan en actos de ceremonias de potlatch Tla’sala, celebraciones tribales especiales.