groups has already been discussed: marriages and trade partnership often grew out of association at a potlatch. The potlatch usually lasted for a week. The most elaborate of Athabaskan potlatches was the funeral potlatch (or memorial potlatch, mortuary potlatch). The funeral potlatch marks the separation of the deceased from and is the last public expression of grief. Memorial potlatches are held by family members of a deceased person one year after the death. It is a mourning opportunity as well as one to honor the deceased. Other potlatches were held to demonstrate the wealth, prosperity or luck of a person: the more potlatches, the greater the wealth. Fresh moose meat is essential to the Athabaskan funeral potlatch. Today, the most well-known potlatch is Nuchalawoyya Potlatch of the Native Village of Tanana. Archaeological evidence of potlatching is found at the 1000 year-old Pickupsticks site near Shaw Creek in the Middle Tanana Valley. Literature The Upper Tanana area has a rich storytelling tradition. Old-time stories are known in many Northern Athabaskan languages under several different labels. They are set in mythical times, when animals and humans could still communicate. Traditionally, stories were told in the evenings in winter in a group setting and are told to educate the young. Art The arts of the Tanana Athabaskans are classified in the Alaska Native art. Birch bark baskets are the most common type of basketry made by Athabaskan women. Today birch bark is used primarily for baskets made for sale and for bark baby carriers. Cuisine The Alaskan Athabaskan Indian ice-cream (Lower Tanana , Tanacross ) is dessert-like dry meat mixed with moose fat and different from the Canadian Indian ice cream of First Nations in British Columbia. One recipe for Indian ice cream consisted of dried and pulverized tenderloin that was blended with moose grease in a birch bark container until the mixture was light and fluffy. In addition, however, Alaskan Athabaskan communities also create songs for performance at potlatches: dance songs, potlatch songs and mourning songs. Within stories and embedded in fragments of folklore, old shamanic songs are also partially remembered; they are called "ice‐cream songs" because they used to be sung during the preparation of , or "Indian ice cream." Transportation Historically and traditionally, the transportation of Alaskan Athabaskans is pedestrian transportation and they are traveling on foot (in winter also birchbark snowshoes). Caribou were also pursued individually on snowshoes during