Questions 484–492 are based on the following two passages.
Passage 1 describes the potlatch ceremony celebrated by native peoples of
the Pacific Northwest. Passage 2 describes the kula ring, a ceremonial
trading circle practiced among Trobriand Islanders in Papua New Guinea.PASSAGE 1Among traditional societies of the Pacific Northwest—including the
Haidas, Kwakiuls, Makahs, Nootkas, Tlingits, and Tsimshians—the
gift-giving ceremony called potlatch was a central feature of social life.
The word potlatch, meaning “to give,” comes from a Chinook trading
language that was used all along the Pacific Coast. Each nation, or
tribe, had its own particular word for the ceremony and each had dif-
ferent potlatch traditions. However, the function and basic features of
the ceremony were universal among the tribes.
Each nation held potlatches to celebrate important life passages,
such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death. Potlatches were also
held to honor ancestors and to mark the passing of leadership. A pot-
latch, which could last four or more days, was usually held in the win-
ter when the tribes were not engaged in gathering and storing food.
Each potlatch included the formal display of the host family’s crest and
masks. The hosts performed ritual dances and provided feasts for their
guests. However, the most important ritual was the lavish distribution
of gifts to the guests. Some hosts might give away most or all of their
accumulated wealth in one potlatch. The more a host gave away, the
more status was accorded him. In turn, the guests, who had to accept
the proffered gifts, were then expected to host their own potlatches
and give away gifts of equal value.
Prior to contact with Europeans, gifts might include food, slaves,
copper plates, and goat’s hair blankets. After contact, the potlatch was
fundamentally transformed by the influx of manufactured goods. As
tribes garnered wealth in the fur trade, gifts came to include guns,
woolen blankets, and other Western goods. Although potlatches had
always been a means for individuals to win prestige, potlatches involv-
ing manufactured goods became a way for nobles to validate tenuous
claims to leadership, sometimes through the destruction of property. It
was this willful destruction of property that led Canadian authorities,
and later the U.S. government, to ban potlatches in the late 1880s.
Despite the ban, the potlatch remained an important part of native
Pacific Northwest culture. Giving wealth—not accumulating wealth,
as is prized in Western culture—was a means of cementing leadership,(1)
(5)
(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
(30)