Celebrating Potlatches, Sam Stangl

A potlatch is a feast that, in the times of modern man, lasted for days and days, but now only lasts maybe 1 or 2 days. For this feast, the members of a society trade food competitively to create what today would be known as a party.
There are many examples of feasts and parties that are similar to these potlatches that exist in American culture today. One of these is Thanksgiving: a huge supper than can include families as well as friends or even others from the community. In a sense, this supper lasts for at least 2 days supposing that there are many leftovers to continue eating for a while. Also, Thanksgiving shows relation to a potlatch because when you participate in Thanksgiving Dinner in another person's home, even if they are your family, it is typical to bring a dish such as a casserole or potato salad, as if to say, "Thank you for inviting me, I am willing to give back for the food I recieve."
The saying that envelopes this concept would probably be "pay it forward." In the story we read, "Too many bananas, not enough pineapple, and no watermelon at all," the author describes his problems with having way too many bananas. Finally, one day when he had to refuse a woman's offer of bananas, a man gave him insight to the fact that he was able to accept the bananas and, in turn, trade them to someone else for something he actually needed. This is kind of like paying it forward because he is accepting a gift that may not cost him much, if anything at all, and helping someone that needs that gift obtain it. In the end, it will most likely always be a win-win situation as he will be returned a gift of "higher value" (higher value meaning something of necessity).