Thursday, July 18, 2013

Ban on Potlatches

Kind of a bizarre incident in US history:

The Potlatch was a gift-giving festival in the Pacific Northwest of the United States practiced by Native Americans.  Its goal was to boost status through the redistribution of wealth- i.e. the more you gave, the more respected you were.

Oddly enough, it was outlawed in the US and in Canada as being "wasteful, unproductive, and contrary to civilized values."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch

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