In remote fishing communities across southeast Alaska live the intensely generous Tlingit (pronounced klink-kit) and Haida tribes, a nation of matrilineal Native Alaskan Indians that have called this region – along with parts of Western Canada – home for more than 10,000 years.
Their ceremonies of generosity are an economic, social, religious and political glue like no other. As Rosita Kaa háni Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, an organization of cultural preservation, creation, advocacy and education for Native Alaskan artists, explained, “These ceremonies bring together opposite clans and help create balance among our moieties, clans and houses; and our ancestors. They keep harmony in our very complex social structure — and that’s really important.”
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170202-a-surprising-way-of-showing-gratitude
