Potlatches are social occasions where friends, families, and everybody get along to feast and have a good time. We hold potlatches for special and significant occasions. Potlatches are held to show how much better a tribe or family is than another. They invite the others so that they can show off for them. I think in my society and family our "potlatches" are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter holidays. Each holiday is spent at someone else's house. Each year they try and make the food and decorations better than the others. They also like to give out the best treats and gifts too. My great-aunt Fefe, who has Easter and my great-grandmother Thelma, who has Christmas have it easy because most families give out gifts for Easter and Christmas. My cousin Stephanie who has Thanksgiving tries to outdo everybodies food because that's all she really can do. All of our birthdays are pretty much ok because we are pretty spread out among age. So the kids dont really try to outdo the other kids birthdays until the get a little older.
LA-- I didn't really think about Sweet 16's until you mentioned it in your post even though I thought about birthdays. It is true because of the show called "My Super Sweet Sixteen" They are all competing and showing off how much they spent and how extravagent their gifts were.
Abbey Dahl-- I like how you mentiones weddings because they really are a competition for everyone. Every bride wants to have the most romantic and beautiful wedding.
I agree that family holiday celebrations are great examples of potlatches. It seems each year the celebration tries to out do the previous year with more food and better gifts.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about sweet 16 either but when you really think about it, any birthday really are all about who got what and they are typically a huge celebration. In the end family celebrations are a perfect example of potlatches. I know in our house each year is a bigger challenge to what we can do better at
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