A Tisket A Tasket A Big Boy Basket

Easter in the South is much like Christmas in the South.   They are truly bookends in a religious zealous fertile ground.   You have the humble arrival of a savior born in a manger, turned out by the innkeepers providing a big metaphor in how man would later turn its back on the savior which brings us to Easter.   So if the Messiah came in like a lamb he definitely went out with all the pomp and circumstance worthy of a grand Greek tragedy.   Hold on, it was a Roman tragedy, wasn't it?   Although Roman tragedy isn't seen as great mythology and taught as literature, this one alleged historical event however became a tale that has kept millions on the straight and narrow and filling the felt lined collection plates of all churches from the little white churches in the pines to the grand cathedrals decorating every ornate corner in Europe.

My own childhood was shaped by these two holiest of holy holidaze and to a great bonus it also allowed for time off from school.   The savior is born and you get gifts, Santa Claus, candy filled stockings & at least two weeks off from school.   The savior is crucified, risen from the grave and you get candy filled baskets, bunnies who lay multi-colored hard boiled eggs, & at least a week off from school.   As a kid this was all I needed to keep me a dedicated believer and seated in the pew at our little white Southern Baptist church in the pines!

As I grew older and all the historical facts begin to bump up against all the religious walls I had so faithfully erected to keep me safe from hellfire I begin to find other tricks and treats to put my mutual two religious holidaze faith in.

The gay culture is clever in that it realizes that not all of its family members will not be able to escape the trappings religious and otherwise of each of these big Christian holidazes respectively.   The typical gay bar is there for its family from Turkey day till the New Year as an oasis and therapeutic escape from the hours spent with birth families gorging on dysfunction and carbs.   At Easter we in the gay community have already begin to work on our summer beach bodies and by Mardi Gras time are ready to start our own spring resurrection.   By Easter weekend there are plenty of  Peter Cock-in-tails hippity hopping all around the scene in the shorts showing off beautiful tanned hairy legs, tightly worked out buttocks and praise jeeeezus many bulging boy baskets abound.   (Big hint, if the eggs your Peter Cock-in-tail is carrying in his big bulging boy basket is colored and hard boiled, I would drop the basket and run to the nearest STD clinic!)   The infamous "white parties," usually have begun by this time and we officially kick off the season of white, sun, kick ass margaritas  and hopefully well endowed overflowing big boy baskets.   I have to say this is a much more fun way to hunt for Easter eggs!