Potlatch: Pacific Northwest Coast (Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, Haida)
The potlatch is a ceremonial complex that organizes social life across many Northwest Coast nations. At its heart are public feasts, performance of masked dances, the formal transfer or destruction of wealth, and the assertion of genealogy, land rights, and social rank. A potlatch might mark a funeral, a name-bestowal, a marriage, or the affirmation of hereditary title. It convenes
