Traditionally, clans owned the salmon streams, halibut banks, berry patches, land for hunting, intertidal regions, and egg harvesting areas. The food was seasonal and therefore had to be preserved for the winter months and for early spring. The food was preserved by smoking in smokehouses or dried, either by wind or sun. These subsistence patterns are still a crucial part of Southeast Alaska Native people s cultural identity. Ceremonies The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian are known for a ceremony called the potlatch and feasts.
Potlatches are formal ceremonies.
Feasts, a less formal but similar event, are more common with the Haida, in which debt was paid to the opposite clan. However, a potlatch could be given by a commoner who could raise his position by hosting a potlatch. Except in the Haida tradition, the host would not raise his personal status, but rather the status of his children. Potlatches might last days and would include feasting, speeches, singing and dancing. Guests are to witness and validate the events and are paid with gifts at the end of the ceremony.