Dzunukwa Cannibal Woman Kwakwaka Wakw

spirit · Canada · North America

Dzunukwa (Dzunuk'wa) is the Cannibal Woman of Kwakwaka'wakw tradition, a giant wild woman of the deep woods with black tangled hair, a puckered mouth, and a huge cedar-bark basket on her back. She carries off children to eat them but is clumsy and easily outwitted, and her masked figure is a dramatic presence of the winter ceremonial.

Open in the interactive archive →