the Bumblebee dance

 

Object type

Mask

Artist/maker/manufacturer

Hawkins, Dick

Culture

Kwakwaka'wakw:Dzawada'enuxw

Place made

Canada: British Columbia, Kingcome Inlet; Gwa'yi

Location

Case 036

Object Number

A8239

Used in the Bumblebee dance, which is a children's dance and is often one of the first dances a child participates in during the Winter Ceremonial among the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw. Represents a bumblebee. In the dance, a father and mother bee lead progressively smaller bees out onto the dance floor one by one. When the children are led back into their 'beehive' at the end of the dance one child is discovered to be missing. The father bee circles the floor fourt imes searching for this lost child. On the fourth round the child is found hidden amongst the spectators and is led home. Used in potlatch by Alec Nelson,Kingcome Inlet, 1938 (D. Hawkins, 1966).

http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/item?keywords=bumblebee&row=2&tab=media