According to Walen Reciprocity in the Northwest coast art took the form of the potlatch ceremony where the host and relatives gave out gifts to all guests that had been invited who were expected to accept the gifts offered tothem.They would also give back in the same kind to those who gave tothem. This notion of reciprocation was also shown when the host was accorded prestige and status in direct proportion to his expenditure. Catherine and Val Napoleon (2008) Througha story ofRaven, the exchange is shown when he impregnates a man’s daughter who in turn gives to him his treasure the sun as a reward for what he had done for him.The notion of sacrifice is represented byRaven who sacrificed his beauty to give to the world the sun that burnt his feathers into a black color, this concept also carries on through animals sacrificing themselves to the hunter so man can survive. Catherine and Val Napoleon (2008)Walen shows the concepts of transformation through the boxes inwhich treasures were often stored that shows images of change the mingled identities of spirit beings and humans. Some tribes used masks to conceal or reveal the altered identities ofa single being and transformation shown frequently shown through different aspects of an individual character on the opposite sides of an object.
The images above The images above are fig3 and 4 of Walen’s representation of transformation.
Mutual dependency was represented by the hunting myth that a hunter not only depended on technical mastery of his hunting skills but also on a ritual relationship maintained between animals and humans that animals sacrificed themselves for man to survive who in return treated their bodies with respect and performed rituals for their reincarnation.( Catherine and Val Napoleon 2008)
References
Catherine and Val Napoleon (2008). “Reproduction: A Replacement for Reciprocity.” American Ethnologist 7:71–85.
