by Skip Saunders
(Nuxalk)

Red Cedar, paint, bark (22”x22”x10”)

SOLD

Sun – Atquntam is the Creator in Nuxalk Mythology. This figure has the ability to appear in many forms. One of these “…is that of the Sun, and in that case he is referred to as Sinxatotla. The theme of the dance of Sun is that of Atquntam, describing his manifold functions, and particularly that of guiding the sun.” (McIlwraith) “The Nuxalk appear to have developed this concept more elaborately than any other coastal group. Near the upper edge of their Sky World, a supreme deity (Atquntam) occupies a great house called Nusmata (“the place of origin of myths and legends”). This ultimate power is the Sun; at a certain point in distant time, he sent four supernatural carpenters to this world to create human life and an environment to provide for them. The masks that appear to represent the ancestral sun could be worn by dancers, but they also might have been used as theatrical props and rigged to move across the rear wall of the ceremonial house to indicate the daily passage of this celestial power .” (Macnair)