The communities of the North Pacific Coast have traditionally kept their economies in balance in the ceremony of the “potlatch” or give-away from a leader most able to share his wealth. Members of his community might arrive by water in their stately canoes for a feast and sharing of up to 10 days. The Haida canoe depicted was carved from a single red cedar tree. It celebrates Native navigation and extensive ceremonial visitation, a tradition that sustains to the present. This practice of the Potlatch was banned in 1884 by the Canadian government. Not to be deterred, today such potlatches have enjoyed a great resurgence, and in 2005, one Haida event in Coast Salish territory raised $5,000 for environmental education.
24/3378 Courtesy, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
00/9247 Courtesy, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
