Status is after-all, the main objective. "We will also give some of the things that others have never given before, to make our name" (Strathern 2000, 93). By creating an atmosphere that is about political status the Kawelka have tied them-selves to a system of one-up-man-ship. Each time a Moka is thrown the sponsor must contend with the constant pressure of outdoing the last Moka given. Gifts, food, presentation, invitation - all are key to the preservation and elevation of status. .
Christmas with the Nacirema - festivities for this occasion center around the last month of the year and include great fanfare, pomp and circumstance. Among the upper class of the Nacirema (a version of a big-man) Christmas has become as political as most other social gatherings, even though it began as a religious holiday for the culture. The parties have become more grandiose and the attendees more formal. Where once you would find family and close friends you may now observe business colleagues, employers, and members of society that may help your own social/political status. More and more members of the Nacirema are spending extravagantly and to extremes that they cannot support, causing greater and greater debts. "You can't just throw a little party! You have to show everyone that you are willing to make sure they have a good time; otherwise they go somewhere else. That costs money" (Interview with Sarah*, 10/18/01). Even within families the need to supply larger and larger celebration activities can overtake the spirit of the holiday. .
Each year our family has dinner at a different siblings" house, and you never know what will happen. My wife, Mary, comes from New York, so we have to have the whole seven course meal with all the trimmings and ceremony. You dress to the nines and we haul out the china and silver. Every year we eat at Lloyd's, that's my brother, he goes over the top! The entire house is done up professionally and there is more food than we could ever eat.