Editing Potlatch (section)

{{Short description|Gift-giving festival and economic system}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Potluck}}
[[File:Wawadit'la(Mungo Martin House) a Kwakwaka'wakw big house.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Kwakwaka'wakw]] continue the practice of potlatch. Illustrated here is ''Wawadit'la'' in [[Thunderbird Park (Victoria, British Columbia)|Thunderbird Park]], [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria, B.C.]], a [[Longhouse|big house]] built by Chief [[Mungo Martin]] in 1953. Wealthy, prominent hosts would have a Big House specifically for potlatching and for housing guests.]]
{{Economic anthropology}}

A '''potlatch''' is a gift-giving feast practiced by [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]] of [[Canada]] and the [[United States]],<ref name=oed>Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, eds., vol 17, pp. 11885-11889. Oxford: Pergamon Press.</ref> among whom it is traditionally the primary governmental institution, legislative body, and [[gift economy|economic system]].<ref name="Aldona Jonaitis 1991">Aldona Jonaitis. ''Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch''. University of Washington Press 1991. {{ISBN|978-0-295-97114-8}}.</ref> This includes the [[Heiltsuk Nation|Heiltsuk]], [[Haida people|Haida]], [[Nuxalk Nation|Nuxalk]], [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chandonnet |first=Ann |title=Alaska's Native Peoples |publisher=Arctic Circle Enterprises |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-933837-14-7 |location=Anchorage |page=27}}</ref> [[Makah people|Makah]], [[Tsimshian]],<ref>Seguin, Margaret (1986) "Understanding Tsimshian 'Potlatch.{{'"}} In: ''Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience'', ed. by R.&nbsp;Bruce Morrison and C.&nbsp;Roderick Wilson, pp. 473–500. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.</ref> [[Nuu-chah-nulth people|Nuu-chah-nulth]],<ref>Atleo, Richard. ''Tsawalk: A Nuu-chah-nulth Worldview'', UBC Press; New Ed edition (February 28, 2005). {{ISBN|978-0-7748-1085-2}}</ref> [[Kwakwaka'wakw]],<ref name="Aldona Jonaitis 1991"/> and [[Coast Salish peoples|Coast Salish]] cultures.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Matthews
| first = Major J. S.
| title = Conversations with Khahtsahlano 1932–1954
| access-date = 2015-11-27
| date = 1955
| asin = B0007K39O2
| pages = 190, 266, 267
| url = https://archive.org/details/ConversationsWithKhahtsahlano1932-1954_346
}}</ref> 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]]).

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. Potlatch also serves as a strict resource management regime, where coastal peoples discuss, negotiate, and affirm rights to and uses of specific territories and resources.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clutesi |first1=George |title=Potlatch |date=May 1969 |publisher=The Morriss Printing Company |location=Victoria, BC |edition=2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Sara Florence |title=Potlatch as Pedagogy |date=2018 |publisher=Portage and Main |location=Winnipeg, Manitoba |isbn=978-1-55379-773-9 |edition=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Swanton |first1=John R |title=Contributions to the Ethnologies of the Haida |date=1905 |publisher=EJ Brtill, Leiden, and GE Stechert |location=New York |isbn=0-404-58105-6 |edition=2 }}</ref> Potlatches often involve music, dancing, singing, storytelling, making speeches, and often joking and games. The honouring of the supernatural and the recitation of oral histories are a central part of many potlatches.

From 1885 to 1951, the [[Government of Canada]] [[Potlatch ban|criminalized]] potlatches. However, the practice persisted underground despite the risk of government reprisals including [[Mandatory sentencing|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Haida Nation |url=http://www.haidanation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Constitution-2018-10-signed.pdf |publisher=Council of the Haida Nation |access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Haida Accord |url=http://www.haidanation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/the_haida_accord.pdf |access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref>

The word comes from the [[Chinook Jargon]], meaning "to give away" or "a gift"; originally from the [[Nuu-chah-nulth language|Nuu-chah-nulth]] word ''paɬaˑč'', to make a ceremonial gift in a potlatch.<ref name=oed/>