Bring on Easter eggs and party kegs

Yesterday, I was in a computer cluster picking up a paper when, shuffling through the thick stack on the printer tray, my eyes glanced on the title of someone else's work: "Houseparties: A Hermenutical Analysis." Intrigued, partly because someone was writing about Houseparties for a class, partly because I had no idea what "hermenutical" means, I began reading. So interested by the content, I stole the pages from the printer and brought them back to my room to read again. Since I am pressed for time this week and because "Houseparties: The Real Thing" is but hours away, I give you this essay I found for your own pre-gaming pleasure:

Houseparties: A Hermenutical Analysis, by Jason Hornet. ANT 422.

Easter is a Christian celebration of the rebirth of Jesus. However, like many once strictly sacred holidays, it has manifested itself in the pop-culture meta-icons of the Easter Bunny, Easter eggs, those hollow chocolate rabbits and the fake green plastic grass that kills thousands of pets each year (Mow the Fake Green Plastic Grass, Nader 1969).

One can easily lament the growing commercialization of the sacred, but here at Princeton, doing so is to ignore the hidden quasi-impregnation of rituals into our very culture. Simply put, Houseparties, the weekend-long social event celebrated by the eating clubs in the spring, is Princeton's version of the very weekend it follows: Easter weekend. After going home to celebrate the sacred holiday or spending it quietly in the dorm, the Princeton community reenacts the Jesus story one week later during Houseparties.

Good Friday. This is a nomenclature found only in English. In German, for example, it is called "Karfreitag." The beginning, "Kar," is a word no longer used, but related to the English word "care," which leads to cares and woes. So Kar meant "mourning." It is also possible that the use of the word "Good" is a corruption of God's. There is a richness, however, in calling the day "Good Friday" because even if it is a day of mourning and woes, there is still hope for a rebirth. This day is a fusion of opposing feelings.

The same goes for the Friday of Houseparties. There is an optimism that this will be a weekend of celebration, a time to rejoice, but at the same time it is a day of mourning: "How will the first night with the date go?" or "How will I be able to spend three days with this person?" or "I hate myself." Even if many students voice these common sentiments, at the same time they also are thinking, "I can't wait to get drunk" or "I'm glad I'm not studying" or "Oh look, shrimp!" Thus, I propose to name the Friday of Houseparties "Good Friday" as well, while keeping in mind the irony present in such a title.

Low Saturday. If one reads the Gospels, nothing happened on this day. One way to put it is to say that no one remembers what happened on this day before Easter. It is easy to see how well this fits the description of the Saturday of Houseparties. Having partied the night before, most people will wake up hungover around 2 p.m. then begin drinking cocktails at 5. It is a forgotten day and the common Christian name of Low Saturday applies perfectly.

Easter Sunday. This is a day of rebirth. The savior has returned after leaving the earth. Spring is here. As children around the world go on hunts to try to find colored eggs, Princeton students wander around outside looking for kegs and free food. Just as Christians view their world in a new way, Princeton students look at the world under the bizarre glow of being drunk in the middle of a sunny day as bands and Hip-Hop celebrities play music up and down the 'Street.' It is a new, exciting feeling.

One can see how the rituals in both Easter and Houseparties are strikingly similar. As Ralph Waldo Emerson says in "The Problem": "Out from the heart of Nature rolled / the burdens of the Bible rolled." I think this has to do with what I am saying. Celebrations can manifest themselves easily into our society. But it is only through thoughtful exegesis that we can discover them.

This paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations.

David H. Turner '02 is from Alexandria, Va.