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Potlatches
The word "potlatch" is Chinook jargon meaning "to give." For the Tlingit people the potlatch was an immensely important winter ceremony featuring dancing, 'Singing, feasting, and -the lavish distribution of property. Major potlatches were a means of honoring the dead, and, if successful, could serve to raise the social rank of the host. A host could easily be bankrupted from throwing a single potlatch, but if there followed a resultant raise in prestige for himself and his clan, it w ...
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