Tag Archives: Maori and Samoan

Choose two rituals that have some aspect of gift-giving, whether material or symbolic, or between humans or supernatural beings.Discuss gift exchange involved in the rituals, whether material or nonmaterial. How does exchange reflect the social relationships among people, and how they relate to the supernatural or divine?

Consider this: All human affairs involve gift exchange, or reciprocity. This is true at the human level when we exchange gifts with the holidays. It is equally true in religious ritual, where a sacrifice may be exchanged from good crops, or more generally, praise of the Lord is exchanged for divine blessing. In fact, ritual […]