potlatch

(American mythology)

Literally, ‘giving’. An extravagant festival held by the Indian tribes of the northern Pacific coast, especially the Haida, the Nootka, and the Kwakiutl. The ceremonial destruction or giving away of possessions by chiefs and leading warriors establishes superiority in social or political status, or permits the assumption of inherited rights. One chief might ‘shame’ another by destroying valuable pots, killing slaves, and burning down houses. If the other chief failed either to give away or to destroy more things, then he would lose public esteem. According to legend, the first patlatch was concerned with the exchange of feathers, long regarded as sacred objects by the North American Indians.

[Chinook Jargon, from Nootka p'achitl, to make a potlatch gift.]

For more information on potlatch, visit Britannica.com.

If you're invited to a potlatch, don't worry about bringing a gift. Instead, you'll have to worry about bringing home all the gifts you'll get. The more overwhelmed you are by your host's generosity, the more successful the potlatch.

A potlatch is the ultimate manifestation of the principle that it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you're the host, you'll happily give away all you have, first by serving lavish food and drink, then by handing out gifts. The more generous you are, the higher you stand in the eyes of others. Furthermore, you stand a good chance of getting it all back, because the guests at a potlatch are expected to return the favor--and then some, if they want to outdo you.

Potlatches were part of the way of life of many of the Indians of the northern Pacific coast of North America. Traditional gifts included weapons, slaves, furs, and blankets. Some reports say that a particularly ostentatious host might burn the blankets that guests weren't able to take. The Canadian government banned potlatches in 1884, but they continued anyhow, becoming fully legal again in 1951.

The word potlatch comes to us from Nootka, a Wakashan language spoken nowadays by about six hundred people in western British Columbia and Vancouver Island. It was used in English as early as 1865, when a journal of life at Puget Sound notes: "There was going to be a great potlach at the coal-mines, where a large quantity of iktas [goods] would be given away--tin pans, guns, blankets, canoes, and money.... It seems that anyone who aspires to be a chief must first give a potlach to his tribe."

The Nootka word came into English by means of Chinook Jargon, the trade language of the Pacific northwest. Nootka is also the source of chako, the second part of the Chinook Jargon word cheechako, which will soon greet us when we arrive in Alaska.

"Potlatch" is anglicized from the Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth) word patshatl, which means "giving." The Nootka term came to be used in Chinook jargon, a Northwest Coast of North America lingua franca, in the 1860s with the beginning of Euro-Canadian settlement. Potlatch denotes a ceremonial feast and gift giving held in winter, usually marking a rite of passage, such as a funeral, wedding, or elevation to a noble title. Late nineteenth-century Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) potlatches described by Franz Boas displayed oratorical boasting and overwhelming quantities of gifts and food, asserting the aristocratic host's wealth and high rank. Neighboring noble houses vied for even more generous potlatches, escalating the competition for status. For example, in 1803, a Nuu-chah-nulth chief gave away 200 muskets, 200 yards of cloth, 100 mirrors, and gunpowder; in 1921, a Kwakiutl chief gave away thousands of dollars worth of purchased goods, including gas-powered boats and boat engines, sewing machines, pool tables, and gramophones. Canada's 1884 Potlatch Law (rescinded in 1951) outlawed these feasts but succeeded only in repressing them, not in exterminating them.

From the point of view of Northwest Coast people, potlatches sustained the reciprocal relationships among noble houses, including their dependent families. In the northern part of the region "houses" or lineages (often called clans in English) were grouped into pairs, such as Ravens and Wolves, that were expected to alternate as host and guest, thus ensuring a balanced series of feasts and gifts. In the central part of the region guests came from neighboring villages, and marriages between villages gave persons noble titles in both parents' lineages, creating a more fluid social order. Throughout the Northwest Coast the emphasis was on visibly recognizing rank by the seating order and the amount of the gift. Anthropologists suggest that late nineteenth-century potlatch extravagances reflected an increase in consumer goods from Euro-Canadian towns and traders that also brought severe decreases in Indian populations from disease epidemics and political instability.

The Danish ethnologist Kaj Birket-Smith, who worked in Southeast Alaska, hypothesized that ancient contacts around the Pacific spread the institution of "feasts of merit" and publicly marked an investiture in higher status. He pointed out similarities between potlatches and such feasts in Southeast Asia and Polynesia. Through trade across the interior mountains, the potlatch may be related to "giveaways," held at powwows among Plains First Nations, that stem from the requirement that leaders must be generous. Giveaways are customary at memorial feasts and on such occasions as a child dancing in a powwow for the first time or a person earning a college degree. In both Northwest Coast potlatches and Plains giveaways, new blankets are the standard gift. Especially honored guests are given embroidered robes or star-pattern quilts, lesser acquaintances smaller items, and visitors who have earned the friendship of the hosts may be recognized with gifts of embroidered jackets or other clothing emblematic of the hosts' style. All guest share in feasting, the gift of food. Potlatches and giveaways share the ethos that giving a gift honors both giver and recipient.

Food at a potlatch must be abundant. Ideally the guests should not be able to finish what is served but should take the surplus home. "Traditional" foods are served, though what is traditional has been modified over time as introduced foods have become standard in the community. Salmon, dried for winter use, has been the prized and usually abundant principal food. Other dishes include berries, seaweed, and meat of mountain goats, elk, moose, bears, seals, small mammals, and halibut, all smoked or dried. Traditionally eulachon, a smelt abundant in early spring, were caught in large quantities and processed into a rich oil used as a sauce at every meal. Potlatches were noteworthy for the lavish outpouring of eulachon "grease," to the point of ladling gallons into hearth fires until the flames roared to the roof. A description of Tsimshian feasts notes, "The foods that were most valued were those that were scarce, available only seasonally, required intensive labor (and entailed organization by a person of rank), 'imported items' (including European foods as they became available), grease, and anything preserved in grease" (Halpin and Seguin, 1990, p. 271).

Dances, both ritual and social, are integral to Northwest Coast potlatches. Elaborately costumed and ingeniously propped dance-dramas, especially those involving a wild cannibal who roared and apparently bit people before the wise elders tamed him, horrified Christian missionaries. When the Canadian government banned potlatches, First Nations protested that the dancing at potlatches was simply "winter amusement," like Euro-Canadians' balls and theatrical entertainments. Furthermore they protested that potlatch feasting provided quality food to their elderly and poor. Most government agents looked away when potlatches were held, recognizing that the First Nations had banned killing slaves and burning houses in favor of conspicuous consumption. By the early twenty-first century potlatches in many Northwest Coast First Nations communities celebrated appropriate occasions without the earlier ostentatious rivalry. Accommodating contemporary employment, twenty-first century potlatches last for a weekend rather than for weeks and are held in community halls. Core practices and foods continue, fostering First Nation identities through public displays of ancient titles, heritage arts, and regional foods.

Bibliography

Birket-Smith, Kaj. Studies in Circumpacific Culture Relations. Vol. 1: Potlatch and Feasts of Merit. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1967.

Codere, Helen. "The Amiable Side of Kwakiutl Life: The Potlatch and the Play Potlatch." American Anthropologist 28 (1956): 334–351.

Drucker, Philip, and Robert F. Heizer. To Make My Name Good: A Reexamination of the Southern Kwakiutl Potlatch. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

Halpin, Marjorie M., and Margaret Seguin. "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan." In Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William C. Sturtevant et al. Volume 7: Northwest Coast, edited by Wayne Suttles, pp. 267–284. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990.

Simeone, William E. Rifles, Blankets, and Beads: Identity, History, and the Northern Athapaskan Potlatch. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

—Alice Kehoe

For other uses, see Potlatch (disambiguation).

The Kwakwaka'wakw continue the practice of potlatch. Illustrated here is Wawadit'la in Thunderbird Park, Victoria, BC, (aka Mungo Martin House) a Kwakwaka'wakw "big house" built by Chief Mungo Martin in 1953. Very wealthy prominent hosts would have a longhouse specifically for potlatching and for housing guests.

A potlatch^[1][2][3] is a festival ceremony practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in North America, along Pacific Northwest coast of the United States and the Canadian province of British Columbia. This includes Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Tsimshian,^[4] Nuu-chah-nulth,^[5] Kwakwaka'wakw,^[3] and Coast Salish^[6] cultures. The word comes from the Chinook Jargon, meaning "to give away" or "a gift". It is a vital part of indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest. It went through a history of rigorous ban by both the Canadian and United States' federal governments, and has been the study of many anthropologists.

Contents 1 About 2 History 2.1 Potlatch ban 2.2 Continuation 3 See also 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External links

About

Edward Curtis photo of a Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch with dancers and singers.

The potlatch is a festival or ceremony practiced among Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. At these gatherings a family or hereditary leader hosts guests in their family's house and hold a feast for their guests. The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth.

Different events take place during a potlatch, like either singing and dances, sometimes with masks or regalia, such as Chilkat blankets, the barter of wealth through gifts, such as dried foods, sugar, flour, or other material things, and sometimes money. For many potlatches, spiritual ceremonies take place for different occasions. This is either through material wealth like foods and goods or non-material things like songs, dances and such. For some cultures, like Kwakwaka'wakw, elaborate and theatrical dances are performed reflecting the hosts' genealogy and cultural wealth they possess. Many of these dances are also sacred ceremonies of secret societies like the hamatsa, or display of family origin from supernatural creatures like the dzunukwa. Typically the potlatching is practiced more in the winter seasons as historically the warmer months were for procuring wealth for the family, clan, or village, then coming home and sharing that with neighbors and friends.

Within it, hierarchical relations within and between clans, villages, and nations, are observed and reinforced through the distribution or sometimes destruction of wealth, dance performances, and other ceremonies. The status of any given family is raised not by who has the most resources, but by who distributes the most resources. The hosts demonstrate their wealth and prominence through giving away goods. Chief O’wax̱a̱laga̱lis of the Kwagu'ł describes the potlatch in his famous speech to anthropologist Franz Boas,

"We will dance when our laws command us to dance, and we will feast when our hearts desire to feast. Do we ask the white man, 'Do as the Indian does?' It is a strict law that bids us dance. It is a strict law that bids us distribute our property among our friends and neighbors. It is a good law. Let the white man observe his law; we shall observe ours. And now, if you come to forbid us dance, be gone. If not, you will be welcome to us."

Celebration of births, rites of passages, weddings, funerals, namings, and honoring of the deceased are some of the many forms the potlatch occurs under. Although protocol differs among the Indigenous nations, the potlatch will usually involve a feast, with music, dance, theatricality and spiritual ceremonies. The most sacred ceremonies are usually observed in the winter.

It is important to note the differences and uniqueness among the different cultural groups and nations along the coast. Each nation, tribe, and sometimes clan has its own way of practicing the potlatch so as to present a very diverse presentation and meaning. The potlatch, as an overarching term, is quite general, since some cultures have many words in their language for all different specific types of gatherings. Nonetheless, the main purpose has been and still is the redistribution of wealth procured by families.

History

Watercolor by James G. Swan depicting the Klallam people of chief Chetzemoka at Port Townsend, with one of Chetzemoka's wives distributing potlatch.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, gifts included storable food (oolichan [candle fish] oil or dried food), canoes, and slaves among the very wealthy, but otherwise not income-generating assets such as resource rights. The influx of manufactured trade goods such as blankets and sheet copper into the Pacific Northwest caused inflation in the potlatch in the late eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries. Some groups, such as the Kwakwaka'wakw, used the potlatch as an arena in which highly competitive contests of status took place. In some cases, goods were actually destroyed after being received, or instead of being given away. The catastrophic mortalities due to introduced diseases laid many inherited ranks vacant or open to remote or dubious claim—providing they could be validated—with a suitable potlatch.^[7]

The potlatch was a cultural practice much studied by ethnographers. Sponsors of a potlatch give away many useful items such as food, blankets, worked ornamental mediums of exchange called "coppers", and many other various items. In return, they earned prestige. To give a potlatch enhanced one’s reputation and validated social rank, the rank and requisite potlatch being proportional, both for the host and for the recipients by the gifts exchanged. Prestige increased with the lavishness of the potlatch, the value of the goods given away in it.

Potlatch ban

Potlatching was made illegal in Canada in 1885^[8] and the United States in the late nineteenth century, largely at the urging of missionaries and government agents who considered it "a worse than useless custom" that was seen as wasteful, unproductive which was not part of "civilized" values.^[9]

The potlatch was seen as a key target in assimilation policies and agendas. Missionary William Duncan wrote in 1875 that the potlatch was “by far the most formidable of all obstacles in the way of Indians becoming Christians, or even civilized.”^[10] Thus in 1885, the Indian Act was revised to include clauses banning the potlatch and making it illegal to practice. The official legislation read,

“Every Indian or other person who engages in or assists in celebrating the Indian festival known as the "Potlatch" or the Indian dance known as the "Tamanawas" is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not more than six nor less than two months in a jail or other place of confinement; and, any Indian or other person who encourages, either directly or indirectly an Indian or Indians to get up such a festival or dance, or to celebrate the same, or who shall assist in the celebration of same is guilty of a like offence, and shall be liable to the same punishment.”

^{[citation needed]}

Eventually it became amended to be more inclusive as earlier discharged on technicalities. Legislation was then expanded to include guests who participated in the ceremony. The indigenous people were too large to police, and enforce. Duncan Campbell Scott convinced Parliament to change the offense from criminal to summary, which meant ‘the agents, as justice of the peace, could try a case, convict, and sentence.”^[11]

Continuation

Sustaining the customs and culture of their ancestors, indigenous people now openly hold potlatch to commit to the restoring of their ancestors' ways. Potlatch now occur frequently and increasingly more over the years as families reclaim their birthright. The ban was only repealed in 1951.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Koha, a similar concept among the Māori
• Kula ring, a similar concept in the Trobriand Islands (Oceania)
• Moka, another similar concept in Papua New Guinea
• Sepik Coast exchange, yet another similar concept in Papua New Guinea
• Guy Debord, French Situationist writer on the subject of potlatch and commodity reification.
• Gift economy
• Potluck (Folk etymology has derived the term "potluck" from the Native American custom of potlatch)
• Pow wow a gathering whose name is derived from the Narragansett word for "spiritual leader".

References

1. ^ Potlatch. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
2. ^ Potlatch. Dictionary.com. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} Aldona Jonaitis. Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch. U. Washington Press 1991. ISBN 978-0295971148.
4. ^ Seguin, Margaret (1986) "Understanding Tsimshian 'Potlatch.'" In: Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience, ed. by R. Bruce Morrison and C. Roderick Wilson, pp. 473-500. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
5. ^ Atleo, Richard. Tsawalk: A Nuu-chah-nulth Worldview, UBC Press; New Ed edition (February 28, 2005). ISBN 978-0774810852
6. ^ Mathews, Major J.S. Conversations with Khahtsahlano 1932-1954, Out of Print, 1955. ASIN: B0007K39O2. p190, 266, 267.
7. ^ (1) Boyd (2) Cole & Chaikin
8. ^ An Act further to amend "The Indian Act, 1880," S.C. 1884 (47 Vict.), c. 27, s. 3.
9. ^ G.M. Sproat, quoted in Douglas Cole and Ira Chaikin, An Iron Hand upon the People: The Law against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast (Vancouver and Toronto 1990), 15
10. ^ Robin Fisher, Contact and Conflict: Indian-European Relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1977, 207.
11. ^ Aldona Jonaitis, Chiefly Feasts: the Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1991, 159.

Bibliography

Main article: List of bibliographical materials on the potlatch

External links

• U'mista Museum of potlatch artifacts.
• The Potlatch Longhouse (Haida potlatches and longhouses)
• Potlatch An exhibition from the Peabody Museum, Harvard University.
• Money An analysis of Potlatch and modern versions of the same from a psychohistorical perspective. Not neutral point of view, but does provide references.
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Oliver S. Van Olinda Photographs A collection of 420 photographs depicting life on Vashon Island, Whidbey Island, Seattle and other communities around Puget Sound, Washington, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This collection provides a glimpse of early pioneer activities, industries and occupations, recreation, street scenes, ferries and boat traffic at the turn of the century. Also included are a few photographs of Native American activities such as documentation of a potlatch on Whidbey Island.
• Anash Interactive - An online destination where users create comics, write stories, watch webisodes, download podcasts, play games, read stories and comics by other members, and find out about the Tlingit people of Canada.

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