What was the purpose of the potlatch ceremony?
What was the purpose of the potlatch ceremony? Potlatch, ceremonial distribution of property and gifts to affirm or reaffirm social status, as uniquely institutionalized by the American Indians of the Northwest Pacific coast. The potlatch reached its most elaborate development among the southern Kwakiutl from 1849 to 1925.
What are purposes does a potlatch serve?
Potlatch
- PURPOSES OF THE POTLATCH
- CONTEMPORARY POTLATCH
- POTLATCH GIFTS OVER TIME
- CONCEPTS OF WEALTH
- COPPERS
- THE VALUE OF A SONG
What is the purpose of a potlatch?
Purpose. Historically, the potlatch functioned to redistribute wealth in what some refer to as a gift-giving ceremony. These goods were later bestowed on invited guests as gifts by the host or even destroyed with great ceremony as a show of superior generosity, status and prestige over rivals.
What does a potlatch represent?
What to bring to a potluck without cooking?
- Pasta Salad
- Slutty Brownies
- Salted Caramel Brownies
- Sweet Potato Wedges
- Garlic Bread
- Seven-Layer Dip
- Skewers
- Caprese Salad
What was the purpose of a potlatch ceremony in the Pacific Northwest?
A potlatch involves giving away or destroying wealth or valuable items in order to demonstrate a leader's wealth and power. Potlatches are also focused on the reaffirmation of family, clan, and international connections, and the human connection with the supernatural world.
What was the purpose of a potlatch quizlet?
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States. It is their main economic system. This is a form of competitive reciprocity in which hosts demonstrate their wealth and prominence by giving away goods; they become a social weapon.
What is potlatch anthropology?
potlatch, ceremonial distribution of property and gifts to affirm or reaffirm social status, as uniquely institutionalized by the American Indians of the Northwest Pacific coast.
What was the most important resource for the peoples of the Northwest Why?
The most important resource was the ocean for the peoples of the Northwest because they hunted whales in canoes and they got many resources from the sea, the coastal forest provided plentiful food.
What is the potlatch ceremony?
Lesson Summary. The potlatch ceremony is a Northwest Pacific Coast tradition of gift-giving festivals. The study of the potlatch by western anthropologists showcased a form of social organization completely different to what was known in the western world. Learning about the potlatch helped to promote the idea that Native American cultures were ...
Where are potlatch ceremonies held?
Background to the Potlatch Ceremony. Ancestral Mask. Potlatches are practiced by a number of different groups across the Northwest Pacific Coast of North America, and they vary substantially. Most information about potlatches is known from the Kwakiutl, or Kwakwaka'wakw.
Why was the potlatch banned?
Despite the efforts of Boas and others, the potlatch was banned at the end of the 19th century in an effort to 'modernize' Native American groups who were seen as 'primitive'.
Why was the Potlatch important?
The Importance of the Potlatch to Anthropological Thought. Franz Boas. Early European anthropologists set out to document the cultural practices of the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before they were completely lost, and they were baffled by this peculiar practice.
How long do potlatches last?
Although they don't last nearly as long as historic potlatches (some of which could last upwards of a week), hosts are still responsible for several days of feasting.
What is the meaning of potlatch?
In fact, the etymology of the term actually derives from 'gift-giving' in the Kwakwaka'wakw language. In general, the potlatch is an ostentatious display of wealth. A leader will gather the community together for feasting, gift-giving, and even destruction of valuable objects to promote the social standing of the leader's house, or numaym.
Why were gifts and feasts important to the community?
Gifts and feasts provided a way for poorer community members to survive and influenced them to follow certain leaders. Hospitality was a way for leaders to maintain their social standing, and competition between houses meant that there was always a push to produce more in order to give more and more away.
What is the significance of the Potlatch?
Potlatch, ceremonial distribution of property and gifts to affirm or reaffirm social status, as uniquely institutionalized by the American Indians of the Northwest Pacific coast. The potlatch reached its most elaborate development among the southern Kwakiutl from 1849 to 1925.
Why was the Potlatch used?
A potlatch was given by an heir or successor to assert and validate his newly assumed social position. Important events such as marriages, births, deaths, and initiations into secret societies were also occasions for potlatches; but trivial events were used just as often, because the main purpose of a potlatch was not the occasion itself but the validation of claims to social rank. The potlatch was also used as a face-saving device by individuals who had suffered public embarrassment and as a means of competition between rivals in social rank.
What is potlatch in encyclopedia?
Potlatch, ceremonial distribution of property and gifts to affirm or reaffirm social status , as uniquely institutionalized by ...
What is a potlatch ceremony?
Potlatch ceremonies were also used as coming-of-age rituals. When children were born, they would be given their first name at the time of their birth (which was usually associated with the location of their birthplace). About a year later, the child's family would hold a potlatch and give gifts to the guests in attendance on behalf of the child. During this potlatch, the family would give the child their second name. Once the child reached about 12 years of age, they were expected to hold a potlatch of their own by giving out small gifts that they had collected to their family and people, at which point they would be able to receive their third name.
What was the purpose of the Potlatch?
In some instances, it was possible to have multiple hosts at one potlatch ceremony (although when this occurred the hosts generally tended to be from the same family). If a member of a nation had suffered an injury or indignity, hosting a potlatch could help to heal their tarnished reputation (or "cover his shame", as anthropologist H. G. Barnett worded it). The potlatch was the occasion on which titles associated with masks and other objects were "fastened on" to a new office holder. Two kinds of titles were transferred on these occasions. Firstly, each numaym had a number of named positions of ranked "seats" (which gave them a seat at potlatches) transferred within itself. These ranked titles granted rights to hunting, fishing and berrying territories. : 198 Secondly, there were a number of titles that would be passed between numayma, usually to in-laws, which included feast names that gave one a role in the Winter Ceremonial. : 194 Aristocrats felt safe giving these titles to their out-marrying daughter's children because this daughter and her children would later be rejoined with her natal numaym and the titles returned with them. : 201 Any one individual might have several "seats" which allowed them to sit, in rank order, according to their title, as the host displayed and distributed wealth and made speeches. Besides the transfer of titles at a potlatch, the event was given "weight" by the distribution of other less important objects such as Chilkat blankets, animal skins (later Hudson Bay blankets) and ornamental "coppers". It is the distribution of large numbers of Hudson Bay blankets, and the destruction of valued coppers that first drew government attention (and censure) to the potlatch. : 205 On occasion, preserved food was also given as a gift during a potlatch ceremony. Gifts known as sta-bigs consisted of preserved food that was wrapped in a mat or contained in a storage basket.
Why was the Potlatch law amended?
Eventually the potlatch law, as it became known, was amended to be more inclusive and address technicalities that had led to dismissals of prosecutions by the court. Legislation included guests who participated in the ceremony. The Indigenous people were too large to police and the law too difficult to enforce. Duncan Campbell Scott convinced Parliament to change the offence from criminal to summary, which meant "the agents, as justice of the peace, could try a case, convict, and sentence". Even so, except in a few small areas, the law was generally perceived as harsh and untenable. Even the Indian agents employed to enforce the legislation considered it unnecessary to prosecute, convinced instead that the potlatch would diminish as younger, educated, and more "advanced" Indians took over from the older Indians, who clung tenaciously to the custom.
What is a potlatch?
A potlatch involves giving away or destroying wealth or valuable items in order to demonstrate a leader's wealth and power. Potlatches are also focused on the reaffirmation of family, clan, and international connections, and the human connection with the supernatural world.
Where are potlatches found?
Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, although mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift-giving economy of the coastal peoples (see Athabaskan potlatch ).
When was the Potlatch law decriminalized?
Since the practice was decriminalized in 1951, the potlatch has re-emerged in some communities. In many it is still the bedrock of Indigenous governance, as in the Haida Nation, which has rooted its democracy in potlatch law.
When did potlatch law become law?
From 1885 to 1951, the Government of Canada criminalized potlatches. However, the practice persisted underground despite the risk of government reprisals including mandatory jail sentences of at least two months; the practice has also been studied by many anthropologists. Since the practice was decriminalized in 1951, the potlatch has re-emerged in some communities. In many it is still the bedrock of Indigenous governance, as in the Haida Nation, which has rooted its democracy in potlatch law.
What was the purpose of the Potlatch?
Historically, the potlatch functioned to redistribute wealth in what some refer to as a gift-giving ceremony. Valuable goods, such as firearms, blankets, clothing, carved cedar boxes, canoes, food and prestige items, such as slaves and coppers, were accumulated by high-ranking individuals over time, sometimes years.
What is the significance of the Potlatch?
The potlatch (from the Chinook word Patshatl) is a ceremony integral to the governing structure, culture and spiritual traditions of various First Nations living on the Northwest Coast (such as the Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish) and the Dene living in parts of the interior western subarctic. While the practice and formality of the ceremony differed among First Nations, it was commonly held on the occasion of important social events, such as marriages, births and funerals. A great potlatch might last for several days and would involve feasting, spirit dances, singing and theatrical demonstrations.
What is a potlatch canoe made of?
On a ceremonial dugout canoe, made from a single cedar log, dancers wearing regalia announce a potlatch. (courtesy Lazare and Parker/National Wildlife Federation) On a ceremonial dugout canoe, made from a single cedar log, dancers wearing regalia announce a potlatch. Potlatch Regalia.
Why was the Potlatch banned?
As part of a policy of assimilation, the federal government banned the potlatch from 1884 to 1951 in an amendment to the Indian Act. The government and its supporters saw the ceremony as anti- Christian, reckless and wasteful of personal property. They failed to understand the potlatch’s symbolic importance as well as its communal economic exchange value.
When was the potlatch ban repealed?
By the time the ban was repealed in 1951, due largely to the difficulties of enforcement and changes in attitudes, traditional Indigenous identities had been damaged and social relations disrupted. However, the ban did not completely eradicate the potlatch, which still exists in various communities today.
Who was the last potlatch?
They failed to understand the potlatch’s symbolic importance as well as its communal economic exchange value. The last major potlatch, that of Daniel Cranmer ( Kwakwaka’wakw) from Alert Bay, British Columbia, was held in 1921. The goods were confiscated by agents of the Indian Department and charges were laid.
Where were the masks confiscated?
Confiscated masks and other goods that belonged to the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) people who attended Dan Cranmer's potlatch in 1921 at the village of Alert Bay, Northwest Territories.
What is a potlatch?
A potlatch has many purposes: to reinforce status in a community, to mourn the deceased ones, to celebrate marriage, to raise a totem pole, to name chiefs and pass special privileges and responsibilities with them. The main purpose of a potlatch is to share wealth and witness important/significant events.
Why did the Europeans oppose potlatch?
* The first European settlers opposed potlatches because they had little knowledge or understanding of what the purpose of a potlatch is . The Europeans thought it was only a enormous squandering of riches, profane ritual and a barrier to converting the First Nations to a Christian way of life.
When was the potlatch made illegal?
* The potlatch was made illegal in 1884 by the Canadian government, it was so called the Potlatch law in which people were prohibited to take part in the ceremony but if anyone was caught by the government they would take a harsh jail term. This law remained until 1951. Even though doing a potlatch was illegal there were still some who continued doing it, in 1921 by Dan Cranmer (a Kwagiulth chief)did a potlatch in which the Government had known about, raided it and arrested almost 50 people and confiscated some of the ceremony items.
What is a potlatch?
A Potlatch is an opulent ceremonial feast to celebrate an important event held by tribes of Northwest Indians of North America. A Potlatch is characterized by a ceremony in which possessions are given away, or destroyed, to display wealth, generosity and enhance prestige.
Why was the Potlatch banned?
Subsequently, question is, why was the Potlatch banned? History. As part of a policy of assimilation, the federal government banned the potlatch from 1884 to 1951 in an amendment to the Indian Act. The government and its supporters saw the ceremony as anti-Christian, reckless and wasteful of personal property.
Summary
Overview
N.B. This overview concerns the Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch. Potlatch traditions and formalities and kinship systems in other cultures of the region differ, often substantially.
A potlatch was held on the occasion of births, deaths, adoptions, weddings, and other major events. Typically the potlatch was practiced more in the winter se…
History
Prior to European colonization, gifts included storable food (oolichan, or candlefish, oil or dried food), canoes, slaves, and ornamental "coppers" among aristocrats, but not resource-generating assets such as hunting, fishing and berrying territories. Coppers were sheets of beaten copper, shield-like in appearance; they were about two feet long, wider on top, cruciform frame and …
Anthropological theory
In his book The Gift, the French ethnologist, Marcel Mauss used the term potlatch to refer to a whole set of exchange practices in tribal societies characterized by "total prestations", i.e., a system of gift giving with political, religious, kinship and economic implications. These societies' economies are marked by the competitive exchange of gifts, in which gift-givers seek to out-give their competitors so as to capture important political, kinship and religious roles. Other example…
See also
• Competitive altruism
• Conspicuous consumption
• Guy Debord, French Situationist writer on the subject of potlatch and commodity reification.
• Izikhothane
External links
• U'mista Museum of potlatch artifacts.
• Potlatch An exhibition from the Peabody Museum, Harvard University.
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Oliver S. Van Olinda Photographs A collection of photographs depicting life on Vashon Island, Whidbey Island, Seattle and other communities around Puget Sound, Washington, Photographs of Native American activities such as documentation of a potlatch on Whidbey Island.