The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) has completed the repatriation of two sacred Nuxalk Transformation Masks to the Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola, British Columbia. These ceremonial objects, used in winter dance rituals to depict the shifting nature of ancestral spirits, had been held by the museum since the late 1800s. The return marks the culmination of years of diplomatic dialogue and Indigenous sovereignty advocacy.
Nuxalk elders and community leaders welcomed the masks home with a traditional cleansing ceremony, emphasizing that the objects are not merely artifacts but living ancestors. The repatriation follows a new institutional policy at Penn Museum that prioritizes the return of sacred and funerary items that were acquired during eras of colonial expansion and cultural suppression.