What is Potlatch?
Potlatch is a ceremonial distribution of property and gifts to affirm or reaffirm social status, uniquely institutionalized by the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Pacific coast. It is the gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States—including the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw, and Coast Salish cultures—and is traditionally the primary governmental institution, legislative body, and economic system. The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth, though its functions extend far beyond economics to encompass legal legitimacy, spiritual observance, and cultural transmission.
A potlatch was held on the occasion of births, deaths, adoptions, weddings, and other major events. The more gifts given, the higher the status achieved by the potlatch host. Unlike Western economic systems where wealth accumulation signals power, in potlatch cultures wealth is measured by one’s capacity to give. The potlatch will usually involve a feast, with music, dance, theatricality and spiritual ceremonies.
Origins & Lineage
Typically the potlatch was 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. Among the various First Nations groups which inhabited the region along the coast, a variety of differences existed in regards to practises relating to the potlatch ceremony; each nation, community, and sometimes clan maintained its own way of practicing the potlatch with diverse presentation and meaning.
The Tlingit and Kwakiutl nations of the Pacific Northwest, for example, held potlatch ceremonies for different occasions: the Tlingit potlatches occurred for succession (the granting of tribal titles or land) and funerals, while the Kwakiutl potlatches occurred for marriages and incorporating new people into the nation (i.e., the birth of a new member of the nation). The potlatch reached its most elaborate development among the southern Kwakiutl from 1849 to 1925.
One of the most famous researchers who studied the nature and importance of potlatches is the anthropologist Franz Boas, whose study of the potlatch ceremony was built around the concept of cultural relativism, the philosophy he created based on his experiences observing the participants in the ceremony. Irving Goldman suggested in his The Mouth of Heaven (1975) that, since in Northwest Coast philosophy all status, power, and wealth are considered to be a gift from the beneficent supernatural beings who provide the materials that humans need to survive, the potlatch is inherently a religious institution, fundamentally endowed with a sacramental quality.
How It’s Practiced
Potlatches are characterized by the reenactment of the sacred family histories that document the legitimacy of the claimant to the rank, by ritual feasting, and by the formal distribution of gifts by the host group to its guests, each according to his rank. Ceremonial formalities were observed in inviting guests, in speechmaking, and in the distribution of goods by the donor according to the social rank of the recipients; the size of the gatherings reflected the rank of the donor, and great feasts and generous hospitality accompanied the potlatch, with the efforts of the kin group of the host exerted to maximize the generosity.
Preparation could take months or years. Originating from the Nootka word “patshatl,” meaning “gift,” the potlatch involves elaborate feasting and gift-giving, often serving to elevate the social status of the host, with preparation for these events taking months or even years, with hosts inviting guests through intricately crafted copper plates known as “coppers,” which symbolize clan heritage and ancestral connections. Coppers were beaten sheets of copper in the shape of shields; every copper has its own name, history and value, with coppers with animal names referring to the crest of the original owner, and only chiefs could own coppers and owning a copper is required to conduct certain types of potlatch business.
Gifts varied widely. Gifts included storable food, canoes, slaves, and ornamental “coppers,” which were sheets of beaten copper considered equivalent to a slave. 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. In some southern regions, the host would destroy (by burning) large quantities of goods in addition to those already given away.
Potlatch Today
The potlatch ban was legislation forbidding the practice of the potlatch passed by the Government of Canada, begun in 1885 and lasting until 1951; after 1951, the Indian Act was amended, removing some of the more repressive measures, including the ban on the potlatch, and Nations on the coast began to openly potlatch again. On April 19, 1884 the federal government amended the Indian Act to make the potlatch illegal, effective 1 January 1885; it was over 4 years before the first person was prosecuted under the law, at which point BC Chief Justice Matthew Begbie ruled that it was unenforceable as written because it did not define the term “potlatch”.
The potlatch ban was never entirely effective, though it did significant cultural damage, and continued underground through the period of the ban in a number of places and ways. On 25 December 1921, Chief Dan Cranmer hosted the largest Potlatch recorded on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia, with a reported 300 people in attendance, occurring in ʼMimkwa̱mlis (also spelled Memkumlis, and also known as Village Island).
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. Potlatches today continue the tradition of hospitality, with a mix of modern cash economies and native craft exchanges; 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, and potlatches are a source of pride for Northwest Native Americans as they increasingly reclaim their indigenous roots, re-formulating age-old practices in the contemporary world.
Common Misconceptions
The potlatch is not wasteful or irrational, despite historical Euro-Canadian characterizations. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, government and church officials actively sought to suppress Indigenous potlatch ceremonies along the Pacific Northwest, dismissing them as wasteful, uneconomic, and irrational, yet findings challenge historical Western perceptions by demonstrating that potlatch ceremonies can increase wealth and social welfare. Seeing that the potlatch was at the heart of a non-Christian cultural system that opposed colonization, the potlatch was targeted by missionaries and colonial officials, though there was also an obvious political motivation for suppressing the potlatch, as it was very foreign to the norms of Protestant and mercantile Euro-Canadians who found it hard to comprehend.
The term “potlatch” is an oversimplification. The potlatch, as an overarching term, is quite general, since some cultures have many words in their language for various specific types of gatherings. What outsiders called a single practice was actually a complex constellation of distinct ceremonies with different purposes, protocols, and spiritual significances across nations.
Potlatch is not primarily about displays of wealth but about fulfilling obligations, maintaining relationships, and transmitting cultural knowledge. Though the wealth distributed at a potlatch may be quite substantial, the amount distributed is much less important than the requirement that it be distributed according to the correct social protocols and moral prescriptions.
How to Begin
Potlatch is a living Indigenous tradition, not a practice open to appropriation or casual participation by non-Indigenous people. Those seeking to understand potlatch should approach it through respectful education and recognition of Indigenous sovereignty. Reading ethnographic works by Franz Boas, particularly his studies of the Kwakwaka’wakw, offers historical context, though these must be read critically given the colonial lens. The U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay, British Columbia, preserves potlatch artifacts and offers educational resources directly from the communities who practice these ceremonies. Supporting Indigenous cultural centers, attending public cultural events when invited, and advocating for the return of ceremonial objects taken during the ban years are appropriate ways to honor this tradition. Understanding potlatch requires recognizing its inseparability from Indigenous governance systems and its role in maintaining relationships between families, clans, and the supernatural world.