Potlatch Ceremony

The Potlatch festival, a ceremonial districution of gifts, is a tradition of Native Americans on America’s north and west coasts, and was especially prominent among the Kwakiutl people in the second half of the 19th century. This photograph was taken in 1895 at Chilkat in Alaska and shows some of the gifts given as part of the ceremony.

Museum of History and Industry/Corbis

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Altruism; Native Americans

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