Ah, springtime. A time of rebirth. The flowers begin blossoming, and the trees begin to regain some of their clothing finally after the bleak naked wardrobe of New England winter. Springtime is also a time of rain, flooded basements and mildew. It’s a complicated season, full of contradictions. And then.. there is Easter.
Being Unitarian Universalist is rather like being invited to a smorgasbord of spirituality. Our family has the opportunity to honor many Pagan, Wiccan, Jewish, and Protestant holiday observances. But the Easter that we celebrate in our home has often been a rather weird holiday for us. Since we have kids, we do the bunny thing. We paint eggs. In past years, we’ve told a story about Ostara. Last year, we explained the crucifixion story that Christians believe. But, basically, because we have little investment in any one flavor of spirituality, we take a lighthearted approach to this holiday. And sometimes, just sometimes, we get a bit irreverent.
This is the year of the Peeps of Death.
Yes, Peeps — those sticky sweet strangely hardened colorful fluff animals that ANY OTHER TIME OF YEAR ARE COMPLETE ANATHEMA TO ME AND MY CRAZY IDEAS THAT KIDS SHOULDN’T HAVE HFCS AND ARTIFICIAL FOOD COLORING. We had 7 children at our house, from age 12 down to age 3.5. They represented faiths that include Judaism, Wiccan, and UU. I set out a tray of bunny and chick peeps, toothpicks, plastic cocktail swords, markers, glitter, and paper plates. I wasn’t sure what would happen. I had eggs to boil, coffee that needed drinking, and a baby to take care of. It didn’t take them long to either massacre or masticate all the Peeps before these adorable children returned to being dragons and dressing up as princesses and pirates, their swords and lightsabers clashing in a strange uber-pop-culture casserole of tropes, with dialogue spewed from a mishmash of Dr. Horrible, Star Wars, Pokemon, Princess Bride, and songs from Jonathan Coulton and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A bunch of weird and completely amazing and creative kids.
THIS is Easter. It’s a complicated season, a weird holiday. Full of contradictions.