Along the northwest coast of North America with its myriad inlets and islands, the winter months, between periods of intense fishing and hunting, provide time for elaborate ceremonies and entertainment in which masks play a central role. Often, these masks as well hearken back to a mythical time of creation, when the differences between animals and humans, and the natural and supernatural worlds, were less distinct. Masks represent the domains of the sky, the sea, the earth, and the chthonic dead. While Tshim-shian and Haida masks frequently present portrait-like images of human beings, the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) tradition and others are drawn to more abstract representations, often creating elaborate masks that open dramatically with the pull of a string to reveal one animal, human, or supernatural image inside another, expressive of a complex and multilayered conception of identity. In the interlinked, frequently opposed, and traditionally hierarchical societies of the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Haida, Tshimshian, Tlingit, and Bella Coola peoples, the right to wear masks, and to tell the stories associated with them at elaborate ‘potlatches' – gatherings that mark life passages and redistribute the wealth of the community – are traditionally handed down from person to person within specific families and descent lines; thus masks are often imbued with the added significance of family crests, identifying links to clan ancestors and totemic animal figures such as ravens and crows, bears and wolves. The right to tell stories and to wear masks may also be gifted, stolen, or won in battle. Often, the appropriation of masks of one group by another is accompanied by a shift of perspective or values attendant on a particular image: thus, the raven may be depicted as mankind’s benefactor or enemy; the bug-eyed Sxwaixwey masks may be regarded as frightening among one group of people and comic among another. Once suppressed by the governmental authorities established by European immigrants, these traditions are now gaining new status and functions.