Were Potlatches Really Banned?
I aimed to find out the answer to if potlatches--important indigenous ceremonies--were really banned by the Canadian government. The word document below doesn't contain pictures, but the PDF does.
What is a potlatch?
A potlatch is an important ceremony for many First Nations on the West Coast of Canada. Some of the peoples who do this ceremony are the Kwak-waka’wakw and the Coast Salish. The people would hold this ceremony for a marriage, a birth, or a death. In the ceremony, they would eat, do spirit dances, sing, give gifts, and have a theatrical show.
The host would give gifts to his guests, such as cedar boxes, weapons, blankets, clothing, canoes, food, and sometimes people (usually slaves). The more gifts or more expensive gifts he gave, the more wealth he was showing. According to Encyclopedia source, they may even destroy the gifts to show how high their “status and prestige” was compared to others.
An interesting point is photos could be taken. But with certain ceremonies, indigenous people don’t allow people to take photos or videos because they are sacred.
Banning the potlatch
The Canadian government banned potlatches because it thought they prevented indigenous people from assimilating to Canada. They wanted to take away their indigenous culture and make them more Canadian. It was put into law:
“EVERY INDIAN OR OTHER PERSON WHO ENGAGES IN OR ASSISTS IN CELEBRATING THE INDIAN FESTIVAL KNOWN AS THE ‘POTLATCH’ OR IN THE INDIAN DANCE ‘TAMANANAWAS’ IS GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR, AND SHALL BE LIABLE TO IMPRISONMENT...”
The ban affected more than British Columbia; it eventually extended to all of Western Canada. If anyone was caught holding or attending a potlatch, they were arrested.Was the potlatch ceremony actually banned? There was an article published by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) which describes how a woman felt about not being able to celebrate her culture’s ceremony. It was published in March 2017. It states the potlatch ban happened between 1885 and 1951.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/historical-ban-spirituality-felt-indigenous-women-today-1.4036528
There was also a video made by the Knowledge Network that states the potlatches were banned. It shows some pictures which are mostly black and white or are drawn because cameras weren’t invented that early.
These show that the ban was real.
How is this important?
Banning the potlatch reminds me of when COVID-19 was spreading very quickly and making people sick, the government banned all kinds of parties. It only allowed people to see each other if they lived alone, or you could only see your family members. And a lot of people had parties in secret, but they were also scared of getting a fine. If they were in a hotel, they would get a warning. In some cases, neighbours would call the police about a house party and the host would get a fine. According to the news, fines were handed out to a lot of people in Vancouver, including professionals who threw parties that required people to buy tickets. This comparison is more about how important ceremonies are to each and every culture. And when your ceremony is banned for an unfair reason, it causes people to feel angry, upset, and fight back. It’s important for bans to be lifted when there is no reason for it anymore.
Works Cited
Gadacz, Rene R. “Potlatch.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 7 Feb. 2006, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/potlatch.
Monkman, Lenard. “How a Historical Ban on Spirituality Is Still Felt by Indigenous Women Today | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 25 Mar. 2017, www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/historical-ban-spirituality-felt-indigenous-women-today-1.4036528. Accessed 7 December 2023
“Potlatch.” Living Tradition: The Kwakwaka’wakw Potlatch of the Northwest Coast, 2023, umistapotlatch.ca/potlatch-eng.php. Accessed 7 December 2023.
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