Three Pronged Symbolic System of the Totem Pole Potlatch and Tamawanas Dance

Native American Symbolic Rituals

Three Pronged Symbolic System of the Totem Pole, Potlatch and Tamanawas Dance

The people who originally migrated to the North American continent came here tens of thousands of years ago. They brought with them many different customs such as the ability to move quickly from one place to another, a love of the Earth that they inhabited, and a reverence for life. These people became what are now termed Native Americans. Native because they were settled here thousands of years before people from any other location came here. The different groups that crossed the land bridge from Siberia moved down the coast and spread out to different inland locations as they moved. Some settled along the Western coast of Canada and the United States and developed traditions that have remained through the millennia. Among those traditions are the construction of totems, the ceremony of the potlatch, and the dances, especially the tamanawas, that are associated with it. These three are linked together in a belief that supports community and giving. This paper offers an explanation of the three customs along with the reasons why the United States and Canada outlawed the celebration of the potlatch.

Totem Pole

The website "Legends of America" describes a totem pole as "the symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual. Native American tradition provides that each individual is connected with nine different animals that will accompany each person through life, acting as guides." These symbols of personal guides can be found throughout the Pacific Northwest in both Canada and the United States. The reason people built the poles was to remind them of who was watching over them. To the native American tribes, these animals had a spirit that wanted to connect with their brothers the humans. Sometimes the animals gave up their spirits to provide sustenance, but mostly the people were able to look to them as guides. It is said that "Different animal guides come in and out of our lives depending on the direction that we are headed and the tasks that need to be completed along our journey" (Legends of America). However, there is one animal on the totem pole that represents the individual or tribal totem. This is the animal that is with the person throughout their physical and spiritual lives.

Potlatch

The Potlatch is a ceremony that was considered the largest of the Northwest Native Americans many ceremonies. It was a gathering of tribes and relatives from many miles around to a specific place, so that everyone could see each other and exchange gifts. The giving of gifts in this instance was not the same as the exchange that takes place at Christmas; it was a redistribution of the wealth that people had enjoyed throughout the year. This was a celebration of life, and it was kept in strict accordance to the spiritual laws of the people. From the U'Mista Cultural Society it is said "We dance to celebrate life, to show we are grateful for all our treasures. We must dance to show our history, since our history is always passed on in songs and dances." The Potlatch is a time of celebration for what has been given to the people, a time of reunion between people who have not seen each other during the rest of the year, and it is also a time when people remember their heritage.

Tamanawas

The dances of the potlatch were termed Tamanawas. These were ceremonial more than just dances of passion or enjoyment, but there were those also. The dances signified many different things to the people watching them and the people participating, and different dances were normally performed by different bands of the tribes. The dances were a storyboard by which people could express the beginnings of their band, but sometimes they were also performed as an homage to a band's personal totem (Syzgvastro). At times there were dances that were common to the entire tribe and these could be performed by professional dancers and singers would accompany them.

Connection

The potlatch was the celebration that encompassed all of the ingredients of the totem pole and the Tamanawas. The three worked together to preserve the history and spiritual beliefs of the people who were attending them. The totem poles were representations of the various bands that cam to the celebration, and the various dances were performed, as mentioned above, to demonstrate the people's feelings about their totems and the rich cultural history. This three-pronged approach was a way for the people to connect with each other and their heritage.

Disbanding the Potlatch

Unfortunately, the Canadian and United States governments did not see the utility of the potlatch. As a matter of fact, the celebration was a danger to their plans. The white people moving into the region were setting up businesses and they needed workers. It was easy for them to find labor because there were plenty of tribes in the area. This was in the interest of the governments of these two countries also because it provided fresh tax revenue and jobs for people in the more eastern provinces and states. Thus, the government wanted to make sure that the Native Americans stayed in place, and once they had been moved to the new towns being built that they did not revert to their traditional ways.

This proved difficult because the people loved their native way of life and the ceremonies that were a law among the people. So, they continued to hold the potlatch every year. But, "the opponents of the potlatch could only see the custom as a wasteful, immoral and heathen practice, an impediment in the road of progress" (U'Mista Cultural Center). The powerful governments were being pressured to do something about the potlatch because it made it difficult to incorporate the Native American tribes into what was to be their new culture. Thus, the governments created a law that read, in part: