Becca Libby - Potlatches

It's interesting to consider the history of potlatches and trying to think of an example in our own society. Historically, a potlatch was a gift giving celebration held by a tribe to celebrate with singing and dancing and exchange of goods. I think it would be nice if we had more celebrations like this in our society, however we don't exactly have "tribes" the way most people who held these celebrations did. The first thing that comes to mind for me, as many people mentioned is Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's the closest thing I can think of to a potlatch. Traditionally in the US these celebrations are meant mainly for just the family (unlike the traditional potlatch), but we still celebrate with our friends and sometimes families of friends. No doubt all cultures love to get together and eat and drink and socialize with one another, this is pretty universal, but gift giving is one thing that makes a potlatch special. I think people always feel good about gift giving, which is why we have so many celebrations that do so. In a tribal potlatch many of the gifts were food, spices, baskets, blankets and other universally useful things. Our own gift giving is not always as helpful. You know when grandma sends you something you will absolutely never touch or use in your life? I think this is also a major difference in our version of a potlatch and the old school version. It was so important to give a gift that would be helpful the the recipient, it may even be thought of as disrespectful to give something that would be useless to them.