Feasts and Festivals

In the beginning of “the people,” the commensality and feasting had birthed a social mechanism, a central theme in our evolving society. Within cultures, the hearth symbolizes “welcome.” A feast is a celebration with foods, perhaps served only for the occasion, in unique and sacred containers. There may be gift giving either with or without a contractual obligation. Anthropomorphic, carved figures may be displayed either within the feasting area or outside, to welcome the guests. Name giving has been an important part of feasts by some cultures, like the tribes on the northwestern coast of the United States, carrying on the potlatch tradition.

Makah red cedar carving by Youngdoctor, circa 1890s, containing original polychrome pigments. This type of carving would be displayed during a feasting occasion.

Source: Photography courtesy of Flury & Company, http://www.fluryco.com.

Left to right: Back row—wooden Tlingit spoon with inlaid with abalone; wooden Pacific Eskimo spoon. Front row—wooden Tlingit spoon; small dark spoon of a northwest origin; Tlingit horn spoon.

Source: Photograph courtesy of Flury & Company, http://www.fluryco.com.

Tlingit dancer Tootsie-a-'Kea-Tiny Barril performing an “entrance dance” at Tom Dalton's 2005Tlingit Potlatch, Tulalip, Washington.

Source: Photograph by Pamela Rae Huteson.

As feasts evolved, rituals became attached, which signified the type of feast being held. Soon, these feasts became more complex, expanding into festivals involving specific etiquette, which molded community behavior. Feasts and festivals proliferated and assimilated cultures by blending rituals, as occurred with the early Christian and Roman observances, such as the creation of Christmas from the solstice celebrations. Could our very political system stem from the act of feasts and festivals?This is the question Michael Dietler and Brian Hayden pose in their analysis Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power (2001). How was surplus food used to start creating feasts and thus preserve the etiquette revolving around the display of finely crafted property appropriate to ensure survival of these mores?

What new feasts and festivals will be created in the future? As modern indigenous peoples are rediscovering their ancient pasts, will there once again be a revival of ancient rituals, perhaps returning to a moral universe, where Raven rules within his potlatch? Feasts can be put into three categories:

• Long-Term-Goal Feast: There is a definite plan in this type of feast, such as to solidify alliances, to bring about peace, to settle disputes, or to raise the status of a chief's child.
• Symbolic Feast: There may be underlying goals in this feast, such as occur at a funeral feast to demonstrate future leadership. These feasts are usually sacred in character, such as memorial or marriage feasts, the first harvest, honoring the ancestors, births, adoptions, and rites of passage.
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• Immediate-Goal Feast: This is more of an impromptu feast and may not have any ritual foods connected with it. This may be a crisis or work feast, or perhaps when a judgment needs to be made or during the planning of potlatch.

Tlingit Orator Chief Roy Williams III speaking before the first of three totems to be raised in Klawock 2003.

Source: Photograph by Pamela Rae Huteson.

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