Similar Masks

This is a Beaver Mask carved from yellow cedar by Bill Henderson from the Kwakwaka´wakw. The native masks often represented spirit creatures, animals and myths. When used in the Potlatch or other West Coast Native ceremonies, the native dancers would take on the personification of the creatures that the masks represented and enter the supernatural world during the dance. A West Coast Native transformation mask often represents the transformation of a human to a mythical creature or animal and vice versa. I really believe that masks played a major role in many parts of natives lives especially spiritually.