Potlatch: A Tsimshian Celebration
 Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith
 Photography by Lawrence Migdale
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1997 Holiday House NY USA
  ISBN: 0823412903


David's people, the Tsimshian of the Northwest American Coast, held potlatches to celebrate their heritage & traditions for centuries before Christians arrived & forbade them. Now, when he's 13, his father holds a modern day potlatch & David tells us all about it.

David is a member of one of several surviving tribes along the Pacific Northwest coastline from the Quileute & Makah Nations of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State northward to Vancouver Island with the Nuu-Chah-Nulth; the Kwakwaka'wakw; the Xwe Nal Mewx; onto the Canadian mainland to the Nuxalk, Heiltsuk, Haisla, Haida, Kitksan, Nisga'a, Tahltan & Tinglit up in Alaska.

The Tsimshian live mostly in British Columbia, Canada & on Annette Island in Alaska. This is where David's great-grandfather lived & died, where David's father spent his childhood & learnt much of his wisdom from his father's father. Here on this little island is where David's father will hold a potlatch for the people to honor the life & heritage of David's great-grandfather.

With Lawrence Migdale's bright & clear photographs of the many stages of preparation for the Great Giveaway, Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith writes what David speaks: about his life & his father; about the land & the traditions of his people.

We are told the history of the Potlatch - a venerable celebration in which I have been privileged to participate - & see women & men & children making drums, weaving robes, sewing dance regalia. There is a sepia-tinted photograph of one of the last potlatches allowed back in 1898.

Then we come to the new Tsimshian settlement - Metlakatla, Alaska & preparations continue with rehearsing the ceremonies, visiting the great-grandfather's grave to weed & clean up; this is when David's father tells the stories of his childhood. Every time David's father & a group of friends & community leaders meet to discuss the progress of the preparations, they carve wooden spoons to be given away at the celebration.

Then, at last, the ceremonies & the four days of feasting begin. Up go the Potlatch Poles amid dancing, singing & drumming. Dedications are given each night with Offerings & Adoption of new members into the clans. It is also a time for the Giving of Names, an important moment in maturity & dedication to community life.

This book Potlatch: A Tsimshian Celebration is a wonder-filled journey into the revival & resonance of the spiritual in other people's lives as told by a boy passing over into manhood. At this age, many other peoples & religions also graduate their children into adulthood.

In the blue, grey & green landscape of the Pacific North West, the red, ochre & black colors of the Tsimshian's ceremonial regalia glow in the summer sun & their contentment, humor & pride also glow in their faces.

A splendid effort! A superior gift for those children in your life preparing for their ceremonies of maturity & acceptance into community life.

More from Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith & Lawrence Migdale: Celebrating Kwanzaa; Day of the Dead: A Mexican-American Celebration; Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration & Totem Pole.
(02/20/00)

Rebecca