During the Winter Ceremonial of the Kwakiutl, when the Cannibal initiate (hamatsa) is ready for his return from his sojourn in the woods, the members of the ceremonial Seal Society, escorted by the villagers, go to meet the new Cannibal singing and trying to induce him to come back into the village and enter the ceremonial house. The initiate, who is still dominated by the “wild” frenzy characterizing the domain of the woods, from which he has not yet detached himself, tries in various ways to escape to his pursuers. A group of assistants is concerned with the pacification of the initiate with songs and the sound of rattles.
Suddenly, the figure of the  kenqalalela, the female companion of the Cannibal, makes her appearance. She stands in front of the Cannibal, singing her song, completely naked, and, walking backwards, she entices him slowly to follow her into the ceremonial house, where the conclusive part of the ceremony shall be performed.
The function of this female character does not seem to reside in her power of sexual attraction, since often this role was played by a woman who was a relative  of the initiate, a woman with whom it was prohibited to have sexual intercourse. The songs which were sung from the woman suggest that it was emphasized above all her power of pacification and appeasement vis-à-vis the fury which still dominates partially the Cannibal.

Young Kwakiutl woman (Photo E. S. Curtis, 1915)

The Cannibal's Woman song:

“Yiya ham yiyaha. I am the real tamer of Baxbakwakanusiwe [the Cannibal Spirit]
Yiya ham yiyaha. I pull the red cedar bark from  Baxbakwakanusiwe’s back

Another song affirms explicitly: “It is my power to pacify you, when you are in a state of ecstasy” (Boas 1897, p. 527).

The frenzy which pervades the Cannibal dancer has the characteristics of a warrior fury, destroying and uncontrollable.  To this destructive power, the kenqalalela opposes a contrary power, which manifests itself when she shows her naked body, that is her femininity. The generative power, which creates life, is thus opposed to the death-bringing power and is able to neutralize it, permitting the process of appeasement of the initiating Cannibal. The couples of opposites – creative power vs. destructive power, woman vs. warrior, life vs. death – become in this way overlapped, constituting a complex frame of symbolical interconnections, on which the entire apparatus of the Winter Ceremonial rests (Comba 1992: p. 174-175).

Kwakiutl woman wearing her ceremonial dress during a potlatch, ritual distribution of gifts and food (Photo E. S. Curtis, 1915).