potlatch

First, potlatch was not something limited to one group (tribe) of Indigenous People (Indians), but was a custom shared by many cultures across the Pacific Northwest coastal region. The anthropologist Franz Boas described potlatch as performed by the Kwakwaka'wakw people (then known as Kwakiutl) in his "The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians." (Pp. 311-738 In: Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1895, pp. 311-738. Washington.). It is available online at Google Books (if you live in a country that allows it, link). As with many customs, potlatch differed from group to group. It was banned by the federal governments of Canada and the USA for about a hundred years (from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th). It has been revived since then. Among the Kwakwaka'wakw people, potlatch could be a highly competitive custom. It was also more of a custom taking place at the family (clan) level than the personal. And for whatever its cultural or spiritual meanings, it was basically a redistribution of wealth (movable property).

The word itself is from Chinook Jargon and means 'to give away'.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.