When you go to a potlatch, the first dances, which follow the mourning songs, are the hamat'sa. Each family's hamat'sa will be slightly different from those of other families. 

		The hamat'sa is a person who is sent into the woods alone to find Baxbakwalanuksiwe', the cannibal spirit. This spirit joins with that person, and he becomes very wild and returns to his village. When he returns, special attendants are assigned to help tame him. They do this with cedar neck-rings. Eventually he calms down and becomes a part of the community again.

Now that this person has received the hamat'sa, he can dance the hamat'sa at a potlatch.  The hamat'sa dance shows the process of taming the hamat'sa.

The first time a new hamat'sa dancer appears, he (or she) comes out wearing branches, since he has just come in from seclusion and fasting in the woods.

Next, the hamat'sa dances wearing cedar bark. Then comes the hamsamala or dance with the masks. Sometimes this dance will be done with only one mask, sometimes with all four masks, depending upon what the family has the right to display.

Finally, the hamat'sa dances with a bearskin or a regular blanket hung with skulls.  What he wears depends on the kind of hamat'sa he is. For this dance a female relative dances in front of him.

At the end of the hamat'sa dancing, there may also be a dance by all the ha'amat'sa belonging to one family.                                          

**adapted from Learning Kwakwala Series - Book 12