Mary Giraudo Beck

Potlatch (eBook, ePUB)

Native Ceremony and Myth on the Northwest Coast

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Turner Publishing Company
• Seitenzahl: 128
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. März 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780882409443
• Artikelnr.: 40184210

Autorenporträt

Mary Giraudo Beck has lived Ketchikan, Alaska, since 1951, when she married a third-generation Alaskan. Besides rearing a family, she taught literature and writing courses for thirty years at Ketchikan Community College, a branch of the University of Alaska. Mary has an abiding interest in the Native culture of Southeast Alaska and a commitment to recording its oral literature. Previous works include two books, Heroes and Heroines in Tlingit-Haida Legend and Shamans and Kushtakas: North Coast Tales of the Supernatural, essays on Native mythology, and articles on travel by small boat to towns and Native communities in Southeast Alaska.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments 4
INTRODUCTION 5
Raven Survives 12
CREMATION AND SMOKING FEAST 13
Raven Creates the Tides 22
PREPARATIONS 23
Raven and the Flood 34
THE INVITATION 35
Raven s Creations 44
HOUSE BUILDING 45
In the Whales Belly 54
WELCOME 55
Raven Sends Fish to the Streams 62
THE POTLATCH 63
Raven in a Fog 76
GIFTS AND PARTIES 77
Raven Loses His Beak 96
PRESTIGE POTLATCH 97
Raven and the Magic Seal Catcher 108
PEACE CEREMONY 109
Further Reading 126