potlache

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English

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Noun

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potlache (plural potlaches)

  1. Dated spelling of potlatch.
    • 1876 October 15, James Lenihan, “No. 29. [Report on Indian Affairs in Fraser Superintendency, British Columbia.]”, in Annual Report of the Department of the Interior for the Year Ended 30th June, 1876. [], Ottawa: [] Maclean, Roger & Co., [], published 1877, →OCLC, part I (Indian Branch), page 38:
      I questioned the Chief respecting a "Potlache" which he had held at his place during the previous winter, and ascertained that himself and two of his Headmen had given away in presents to their friends 134 sacks of flour, 140 pairs of blankets, together with a quantity of apples and provisions, amounting in value to about $700, for all of which they had paid in cash out of their earnings as laborers, fishermen, and hunters.
    • 1971, Gwendolyn MacEwen, “House of the Whale”, in David Helwig, Tom Marshall, editors, Fourteen Stories High, Ottawa, Ont.: Oberon Press, →ISBN, pages 26–27; republished in Meaghan Strimas, editor, The Selected Gwendolyn MacEwen (Exile Classics; no. 7), Holstein, Ont.: Exile Editions, 2007, →ISBN, page 142:
      Anyway, I lie here and imagine grandfather celebrating a heavenly potlache – (heaven is the only place he'll ever celebrate it, for it's long since been forbidden by the government here on earth) – and the great Christian gates are opening for him now, and behind him the charred remains of his pipe and his blue denims bear witness to the last potlache of all.