DCHP-2
give-away dance Esp. Pacific Coast DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN OUTDATED INFORMATION, TERMS and EXAMPLES
a modified festival and ceremony taking the form of a present-giving party after the passing of the Potlatch Law.
See also: potlatch ((n.)) (def. 2b) pow-wow ((n.)) (def. 1d)
- 1916 Alert Bay and other Indian villages of the British Columbia coast are occasionally enlivened by Potlatch or Give-away festivals, at which the Indian host bestows his worldly goods upon his invited guests amid formal dancing and feasting beneath rows of totem poles.
- 1927 (1928) The races kept up till six o'clock and after that there was an Indian dance that is very popular. It is called the "Lame Dance," and sometimes the "Give-away Dance." They just jump up and down around a fire to the beat of drums. It is odd, because they give away nearly everything they have. A man with a nice pair of fancy moccasins will hold them out to another Indian, who grabs hold of them, and then they dance awhile together. The second Indian gives the other man something, probably a hat or a pair of gaily embroidered gloves of deerskin. Away they go again.
- 1940 In the give-away dance you present some person, male or female, with a handkerchief, which he or she grabs. You then fall in line with the others, making the round of the lodge, weaving in and out among the sacrificial fires. . . .
- 1963 He [a Chilcotin Indian] . . . told me he was on his way to a potlatch or "give-away dance" at the Nemiah Valley.
- 1916 Alert Bay and other Indian villages of the British Columbia coast are occasionally enlivened by Potlatch or Give-away festivals, at which the Indian host bestows his worldly goods upon his invited guests amid formal dancing and feasting beneath rows of totem poles.