<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A potlatch is a gift - giving feast practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary economic system . This includes the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu - chah - nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures . Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, though mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift - giving economy of the coastal peoples (see Athabaskan potlatch). </P> <P> Potlatches went through a history of rigorous ban by the Canadian federal government, continuing underground despite the risk of criminal punishment, and have been studied by many anthropologists . Since the practice was de-criminalized in the post-war years, the potlatch has re-emerged in some communities . </P>

The redistributive feast of the pacific northwest coast is called a