The return of a spiritual and culturally significant ceremonial First Nations mask stolen from an Alert Bay residence is being celebrated.
Chief Bill Cranmer of the Namgis First Nation, one of the Kwakwaka’wakw nations, said the family from whom the bird mask was stolen had planned to use it in a potlatch at the end of October.
The brightly painted Huxhukw mask, which has a long straight beak, was taken from a shed during a recent break-and-enter.
Alert Bay RCMP reported Friday that the mask had been voluntarily brought to the detachment by a private collector.
The collector will not be charged, but a suspect in the theft was arrested and is due to appear in court Nov. 12 in Port Hardy.
“It’s quite an important part of the Hamatsa ceremony,” Cranmer said of the bird mask, one of four used during ceremonial potlatches and initiation ceremonies. Typically, the Hamatsa initiate, usually a teenager, is swarmed by dancers who use masks to represent birds possessed by the cannibal spirit. Dance and song are used to calm the evil and help rid the initiate of bad spirits, Cranmer said.
University of Victoria instructor Kerry Mason called the return of the Alert Bay mask “thrilling news.”
“These are powerful, important and highly respected masks by the family; they are not to be treated lightly,” Mason said.
The masks are not meant for display. They are typically kept out of sight and used during the fall when the potlatch season and Hamatsa ceremonies take place.
“Usually these kinds of masks are not sold,” Cranmer said. “They are kept by families and passed on from generation to generation.”
Replicas by First Nations artists look the same but are made to be sold, said Cranmer, who said collectors have to take responsibility when they buy items of this type.
He recently recovered his father’s Chilkat blanket from a Vancouver gallery two years after it was stolen. A friend recognized it and called Cranmer, who said he confronted the gallery owner with police.
Alert Bay RCMP did not say how the collector came into possession of the Huxhukw mask.
If a collector wants a Hamatsa mask for display or sale they are supposed to use replicas commissioned from an artist for display or purchased from a reputable gallery, Mason said. “A red flag should have gone off.”
