Traditional potlatches are gift-giving celebrations, in which possessions are given away with lavish generosity to mark meaningful life events. The ceremonial feasts display the wealth of the givers, enhance their prestige, and affirm connections with a web of relations. The gifts received are likely to be given away at the next ceremony, keeping wealth in motion and cementing mutual bonds. This ritualized redistribution of wealth was banned by colonial governments, under the influence of missionaries in the 1800s. Potlatches were seen as contrary to “the civilized values of accumulation” and
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