Potlatch: Native Ceremony and Myth on the Northwest Coast

Among the Northwest Coast Indians (Tlingit, Haida, and others), potlatches traditionally are lavish community gatherings marking important events, such as funerals or marriages. In celebrations that often last many days, sumptuous meals are served; legends about clans and ancestors are sung and enacted with dances, masks, costumes, and drums; totem poles are often raised; and gifts are presented to all guests. Through this custom, cultural ties are renewed and strengthened.

Using details from historical potlatches, and skillfully weaving in legends about animals and spirits revered by Natives--Raven, Grizzly Bear, Salmon, Frog--Mary Beck creates a compelling account of the potlatch ceremony and its place in a community's celebration of life, death, and continuity.

Mary Beck is the author of three popular books on the Native heritage of Southeast Alaska: "Heroes and Heroines in Tlingit-Haida Legend, Potlatch: Native Ceremony and Myth on the Northwest Coast, "and "Shamans and Kuchtakas: North Coast Tales of the Supernatural." A longtime resident of Ketchikan, Alaska, Beck taught literature and writing at Ketchikan Community College for more than thirty years. Mary Beck now lives in Bellevue, Washington.
Illustrator Marvin Oliver is one of the Northwest Coast's foremost contemporary sculptors and printmakers, who has made strides in the art world for the development and recognition of Native American Contemporary Fine Art. Oliver is Professor of American Indian Studies and Art at the University of Washington, and serves as Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Native American Art at the Burke Museum. He also holds a part-time post at the University of Alaska Ketchikan.