Kwakiutl << `kwah` kee OO tuhl >> are Indigenous (native) peoples of the northwest coast of North America. In Canada, they are considered First Nations, a designation for some Indigenous peoples of Canada. The Kwakiutl are famous for elaborate feasts known as potlatches. They hold these ceremonies to celebrate weddings and other social events. Chiefs sponsor potlatches, at which huge quantities of valuable property are displayed, given away to guests, and occasionally destroyed. In accepting the gifts, the people recognize the prestige and social rank of the sponsoring chief and the chief’s family. The Kwakiutl are also called the Kwakwaka’wakw << `kwah` kwah kyuh WAH kwah >> .
Traditionally, the Kwakiutl lived by fishing, by hunting, and by gathering clams, berries, seaweed, and other foods. They lived in villages of plank houses along beaches on what are now Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia in Canada. Many family groups placed totem poles in front of their homes and elsewhere to signify their ancestry and social rank. Today, thousands of Kwakiutl live mainly on small reserves in their traditional homeland or nearby in Canadian and U.S. cities.
