The Potlatch of the Northwest Coast

The potlatch is a great gift-giving ceremony that serves to validate the rights and privileges of the chiefs and their kinship groups.The word potlatch , which means "to give," comes from the Chinook language, out of which developed the primary trade language used in the Northwest Coast area in the historic period.

In aboriginal times a potlatch might last several days and included feasting, speechmaking, ceremonial dancing and singing, the display of valuable objects and symbols, and the ostentatious giving of gifts to all the guests present. A village and its chief would invite neighboring villages to be their guests -- to be witnesses to the announcements and events taking place at the feast and to receive gifts from the host chief. Potlatches were given to name a new chief or heir, to mourn and memoralize a dead chief or other noble, to celebrate the marriage or birth of a high ranking person, and to validate the ownership of rights and privileges or their transfer from one person to another. Examples of such rights include the ownership of specific fishing and hunting locations, the privilege of displaying particular crests and symbols on houses, totem poles, clothing, etc., and the right to dance or sing in a certain way.

During the ceremonial feast, each guest was given a gift, the value of which was determined by that guestÕs rank and social importance in the society. Chiefs and nobles were given the most valuable gifts, while commoners were given items of lesser value. Everyone received something. When a guest accepted a gift, he/she publicly recognized and validated the rights of the chief and village hosting the potlatch. A chief -- and by extension, his family and entire village -- acquired prestige by the holding of a potlatch and the giving of gifts. The potlatch also served to redistribute wealth among villages and to tie villages to one another socially.

Potlatches are still important ceremonies among contemporary native peoples of the Northwest Coast and are often given for some of the same reasons as in earlier times: the memoralizing of the dead, the marriage of high-ranking individuals, and to validate the transfer of inherited rights and privileges.

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