Overview

---

Originally the potlatch was held to celebrate events in the life cycle of the host family such as the birth of a child. However, the influx of manufactured goods such as blankets and pieces of copper into the Pacific Northwest caused inflation in the potlatch in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some groups, such as the Kwakiutl, 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.

Potlatching was made illegal in Canada in 1885 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 wasteful, unproductive, and contrary to the work ethic and values of the society of Canada and the United States. Despite the ban, potlatching continued clandestinely for years. Many First Nations petitioned the government to remove the law against a custom that they saw as no worse than Christmas, when friends were feasted and gifts were exchanged. The law was never reversed, but as opposition to the potlatch waned in the twentieth century it was dropped from the books, the United States in 1934 and Canada in 1951.

Potlatch is a very famous cultural practice studied by ethnographers. "Potlatch is a festive event within a regional exchange system among tribes of the North pacific Coast of North America, including the Salish and Kwakiutl of Washington and British Columbia." Sponsors of potlatch give away many useful items such as food, blankets, pieces of copper, and many other various items.” In return for this, they got prestige. To give a potlatch enhanced one’s reputation. Prestige increased with the lavishness of the potlatch, the value of the goods given away in it." Potlatching has became one of America's greatest assets to helping out people less fortunate, and those who may not get to become a part of a tribe or organization, allowing them to experience this classical tradition.

In Modern Times

Today people continue to hold potlatches and they are once again an important part of community life. They may be performed for a variety of different reasons depending on the traditional practice of the tribe and regional variation. Many if not most potlatches are today associated with the commemoration of a deceased individual, usually an important person in the community. Other reasons include totem pole raisings, payments for significant services rendered, political activities, community celebrations, and tribal gatherings. Gifts today usually consist of money or food, but may include blankets, clothing, dishes, household utensils, art, and nearly anything else which has some obvious value.

The potlatch has fascinated Westerners for many years. Thorstein Veblen's use of the ceremony in his book Theory of the Leisure Class made potlatching a symbol of 'conspicuous consumption'. Other authors such as Georges Bataille were struck by what they saw as the anarchic, communal nature of the potlatch's operation—it is for this reason that the organization Lettrist International named their review after the potlatch in the 1950s. Kim Stanley Robinson adopted the term in his Mars trilogy. In these, a gift economy existed with the social expectation that all deals exchanges were on equal terms. Potlatching in this situation became essentially the equivalent of ripping someone off in a standard economy, and seen as unfair to the recipient. The potlatch has also become a model, albeit a sometimes poorly understood one, for the open source software movement and a variety of social movements. The potlatch tradition has begun to be observed by various religious groups. The Web Path Center in Clyde, New York has celebrated a form of this tradition for many years and The Universal Terran Church has incorporated it into their All Faiths Day celebration for the purpose of promoting selfless giving between practitioners of various faiths. Girl Scouts in the United States also hold potlatch ceremonies.

The English term "potluck" is erroneously said to derive from "potlatch" due to its use in the American term "potluck dinner"; it is actually a portmanteau of "pot"+"luck".

See also

---

• Koha, a similar concept among the Māori
• Kula, a similar concept in New Guinea
• Moka, another similar concept in Papua New Guinea
• Sepik Coast exchange, yet another similar concept in Papua New Guinea

References

---

• Cole, Douglas and Ira Chaikin. An Iron Hand Upon The People: The Law Against The Potlatch on the Northwest Coast. Vancouver and Seattle: Douglas & McIntyre and University of Washington Press, 1990.
• Kan, Sergei (1993). Symbolic Immortality: The Tlingit potlatch of the nineteenth century. Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
• Mauss, Marcel (1925). The Gift ^*
• Masco, Joseph (1995). "It is a strict law that bids us dance": Cosmologies, colonialism, death and ritual authority in the Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch, 1849-1922. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 37(1): 41-75.

External links

---

• Potlatch entry from the Encyclopedia of North American Indians
• On-line exhibition on potlatch from the Peabody Museum
• Potlatch Then and Now: a website on potlatch from a Kwakwaka'wakw cultural heritage organization
• An analysis of Potlatch and modern versions of the same from a pyschohistorical perspective
• 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 of Washington State's Puget Sound from the 1880s to 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.

Native American culture | First Nations culture

Potlatch | Potlatch | Potlatch | Potlatch | Potlatch | Potlacz | Potlatch