The word potlatch comes from a Chinook

The Potlatch
“To Give”
The word potlatch comes from a Chinook (Nuu Chal Nulth) jargon word that translates as “to give” but
many people call it “Indian Business”.
Kwakwaka wakw Potlatch, Alert Bay, 1983
Old Fort Babine Potlatch
Lisa Pugh 2008
What is a Potlatch?
The Coastal First Peoples are known for
the potlatch, a multi-day ceremony held
for a variety of occasions such as:
• a funeral or memorial honoring the
dead
• a wedding
• the naming of a child
• the raising of a totem pole
• the payment of a debt
• the completion of a new house
• to rid the host of a shame
Potlatches were traditionally held during
the winter months. They might last days
and would include feasting, speeches,
singing and dancing. Guests who
witnessed the events were paid with gifts
during the ceremony. Traditionally, there
were no written records of the changes in
peoples lives. Guests were paid to
remember the event.
High-ranking, clans and/or individuals
were expected to give potlatches.
However, a potlatch could be given by a
commoner to raise his social position.
Quinault Nation (USA) Potlatch drummers
Which
Aboriginal
Nations hold
Potlatches?
The nations of the North West
Coast traditionally held
potlatches.
Coast Salish
Some nations further inland
also hold potlatches*.
* Some examples of inland nations include the
Babine Lake band (Carrier Nation) and the
Wet'suwet'en Nation.
$$ Wealth $$
•
Traditionally, nations of the North West Coast lived in an environment that gave them
lots of food and resources to build their homes, make their clothes, baskets, fishing
gear, cooking boxes, etc. The salmon and the cedar tree were two very important
resources that provided so much. With this abundance, came the idea of the
potlatch or giving away when you have more than you need. Feasts also happened
when you had lots of food but a potlatch is more then just a feast. There is always a
reason to have a potlatch and business needs to be done.
•
These nations also had ranked societies or communities where some people had
more possessions and rights than others because of their birth. Think of European
kings and queens, princes and princesses, then nobles, commoners and finally
slaves. All of these were present in the form of chiefs and their wives and children,
with the chief’s family being nobles and then the common people and finally slaves
(people taken in raids). With this hierarchical (ranked) society, people owned not
only material things like feast dishes, otter fur pelts and berry patches, they also
owned things you could not touch, like songs, stories, dances and names.
•
Potlatching gave the chiefs and nobles a chance to let everyone know how wealthy
they were and also let everyone know what new name or possession they were
getting / inheriting. By giving away, their reputations grew, they earned prestige and
more rank. Also, when a chief gave away all his possessions, he knew that he would
get lots of things back as his neighboring chief would try to out-do him or match his
wealth at the next potlatch.
What Happens at a Potlatch?
Every nation has their own order of events and way of doing things. Here is an example
of what might happen:
• Invitations are sent out to guests.
• Hosts buy, save and make gifts for guests (months or years).
• Preparation takes place: food, dancing practise, making regalia, and masks.
• Guests arrive and are formally welcomed, usually by a master of ceremonies or person who
speaks for the host, then they are brought to the big house and seated according to their rank.
• Grand entry (host family/clan comes in in regalia)
• Opening speech, welcoming guests.
• Prayer of Thanks for the food and then Feasting with lots and lots of food
• Songs, dances and speeches are given. This is when the host lets everyone know the new
event or change in their lives.
• Hosts often retell family/clan stories through songs and dances to let all know about their
ancestral rights.
• The host family then gives out the gifts (the best gifts are given to the most important people).
• Closing words and wishes for a safe journey home are given.
How do you prepare for a
Potlatch?
Preparing for a potlatch takes months
and even years.
Preparations start when it is decided that
a potlatch is needed because of a birth,
death, marriage, puberty milestone,
totem pole raising or change in a family’s
life/status.
Elders are asked for advice on how to do
things.
Invitations are given or asked of guests.
Many gifts have to be made or bought.
Money may need to be saved to give to
non-family helpers or for buying food and
gifts.
Cooking and baking food for 100’s and
100’s of people needs to be done.
David and Evelyn from the Tsimshian Nation make
potlatch gifs.
“I'm having a wedding celebration. Come to my house. I will give you everything. I know
that when I give it all away, next time around it will all come back." Kwakwaka’ wakw
belief
Historical Kwakwaka’ wakw Potlatch with Hudson’s Bay Blanket Gifts
Charlie Nowell displaying potlatch bracelets at Alert Bay, BC (year ?)
“Family members carry gifts from behind a painted dance screen…hand
crocheted pillows, new blankets. A girl opens a suitcase bulging with
potholders. Others stack plastic clothes baskets, cooking pots, glass bowls,
aprons, scarves, towels, and cartons of apples and oranges.
Everyone receives multiple gifts and multiple servings of food, for all have
seen the dances and herd the songs, all have listened to their host’s claims
and credentials. They must be paid for their witness, and by accepting the
payment guest signify their agreement with all that had been claimed by the
host.” Ruth Kirk, Wisdom of the Elders: Native Traditions on the NWC, 1986
Haida Frog Feast Dish
Salmon barbeque
Horn spoon for Feasting
Toksook Potlatch, 2004
Double Headed Wolf Dish, Quatsino, 1898
Ordinary use Canoe Dish, Fort Rupert, 1897
Seal Feasting Dish, Quatsino, 1898
Mountain Goat Horn and Wood Spoons, Fort Rupert, 1897
Dances and Drums
Speeches, songs, and dances allowed a host to
let everyone know about his/her ancestral
privileges.
Dances and songs and stories were OWNED.
Only the individual or family/clan owners could
dance their dances or sing their songs.
You were given a dance or song as part of your
family’s inheritance.
Sometimes the masks and headdresses worn
during dances depicted the supernatural being
who had given the dance to the host’s
ancestors.,.
Every nation has their own family/clan dances.
Here are some examples of dances you might
see at a potlatch: Welcome dance, Ladies
dance, Berry dance, House dances (wolf, bear,
killer whale, salmon, raven, thunderbird),
Warrior dance and a Paddle dance.
A dance not only represented a group but also
could tell a family story.
Potlatch at Tanacross, Alaska 1970
Cedar log drums are/were used at potlatches. The log would have several drummers who
use stick beaters to create the beat.
Git-Lak-Lik-Staa, a children’s dance group performs at a potlatch in Metlakatla, Alaska
Crooked-Beak,
Hamatsa Mask
Kumugwe (Chief of the Sea) Mask,
Wolf Mask
What do people wear?
The button blanket replaced the cedar bark and
fur robes worn before European trade. It has
now become the most popular piece of
contemporary feast attire among the people of
the North coast.
At first, crest designs decorated with dentalium
shells were sewn onto wool blankets traded
from maritime fur traders and later the Hudson's
Bay company. By the middle of the nineteenth
century (1850’s) the blankets were made of
dark blue duffle with the designs sewn in red
stroud.
Double headed eagle, Haida, 1900
At first squares of abalone shell were sewn to
the eyes and joints of the crest figures. Later
pearl buttons were traded and used as outlines
of crests.
Some examples of other feast wear items might
include: frontlets, dance aprons, cedar
headbands, fur or wool/cedar capes, vests,
whistles and rattles.
Raven Bringing The Light, Dorothy Grant, 2004
Tsimshian Potlatch at Metlakatla, Alaska where a special Eagle with Rainbow Button Blanket is given to a young man. The outer
border has been weaved in the Raven’s Tail design instead of the usual red stroud.
High ranking woman in full regalia holding a copper, Fort Rupert, 1898
Dance Apron (black cloth, flour sacks, puffin beaks and beads, 1897)
What are Coppers?
•
Coppers were the ultimate expression of wealth for many nations, especially the
Kwakwaka wak’w. Copper was originally mined and pounded into panels with
crests engraved and painted on the face. After European trade, sheet metal
copper was traded to make the coppers. A copper was only owed by a chief
and was worth 1000’s of blankets. At potlatches, chiefs would sometimes break
off pieces of a copper to give to very important guests that they wanted to make
alliances or friendships with or someone they wanted to shame.
Noble family with copper
Kwakwaka wakw man with copper
Chief with Copper Pole
Banning of the Potlatch
•
Before the arrival of the European trade goods, gifts included storable food,
oolichan fish oil, furs, dried food, canoes, and slaves among the very wealthy.
•
The influx of manufactured trade goods such as blankets, metals and sheet
copper into the Pacific Northwest caused inflation in the potlatch in the late
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1800’s).
•
Some groups, such as the Kwakwaka'wakw, used the potlatch as an arena in
which highly competitive contests of status took place. In rare cases, goods
were actually destroyed after being received or the host would destroy goods
to show how much wealth he had.
•
Potlatching was made illegal in Canada in 1884 largely at the urging of
missionaries and government agents who wanted to convert native peoples to
Christianity. The potlatch was seen as a key target in assimilation policies
and agendas. Anyone caught participating in one, could serve 2-6 months in
prison and also surrender their potlatch regalia, masks, blankets, etc.
•
The government didn’t see that the potlatch was an important ceremony that
kept alive family stories, songs, dances, crests, and rights. It wasn’t until 1951
that the government lifted the potlatch ban.
References
•
Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane. 1997. Potlatch: A Tsimshian Celebration.
•
Kirk, Ruth. 1986. Wisdom of the Elders: Native Traditions on the Northwest Coast.
•
Silvey, Diane. 2000. From Time Immemorial: The First People of the Pacific
Northwest Coast.
•
Powell, Jay; Vickie Jensen; Vera & Agnes Cranmer. 198?. Yaxwatlan’s Book 12:
U’mista Cultural Society.
•
UBC Museum of Anthropology, 2002. First Nations in BC: An Exploration of
Cultural Continuity and Change.
•
www.nativedance.ca . 2008.
•
Jonaitis, Aldona Ed. 1991. Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch.