White Party
The white party is the sparkling finale of Atlantis parties. Beautifully decorated out on the pool deck and showcasing an eye popping display of lights, fog, sound, and lasers, it’s simply fantastic. I’m not sure where the tradition came from in gay male life but having spent a few days in the archeological ruins of Pompeii, Delos, and Mykonos, Greece, I’m wondering if it’s perhaps some kind of bacchanalian last rites festival. The final frenzy of partying and dancing until sunrise is a kind of purification. Aurelio, you can tell me if you think I’m anywhere close. Alternately, these guys just like to see themselves in white, in a sea of white.
We danced our arses off only until about 3, but it was lovely to share these last hours with some of the wonderful people we’ve met in the last week. To admire and be admired, loving the role of the female Atlantis hostesses. It’s hard not to love; even the ship staff get excited. We even saw the Captain’s wife hanging out in the DJ booth having a great time.
This is Jarrod, one of the A-team boys.
And here we are with Martin from Poland; Rich (center), the owner of Atlantis and our boss; and Gordon (halo) the cruise director for Royal Caribbean.
Talk about a happy cowboy: 
And we’ll have to tell you all about our favorite couple, Marquis and Jason, from Boise Idaho (below):
Posted by in 14:07:55
“Introduced into Rome from lower Italy, the Bacchanalia were at first held in secret, attended by women only, on three days of the year. Later, admission was extended to men, and celebrations took place as often as five times a month. The reputation of these festivals as orgies led in 186 bc to a decree of the Roman Senate that prohibited the Bacchanalia throughout Italy, except in certain special cases. (Surprisingly, a copy of the decree survives, as does an account by the Roman historian Livy.) Nevertheless, Bacchanalia long continued in the south of Italy.”
–Britannica Online Encyclopedia
“From the time that the rites were thus made common, and men were intermixed with women, and the licentious freedom of the night was added, there was nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practiced among them. There were more frequent pollution of men with each other than with women. If any were less patient in submitting to dishonor, or more averse to the commission of vice, they were sacrificed as victims. To think nothing unlawful was the grand maxim of their religion. The men, as if bereft of reason, uttered predictions, with frantic contortions of their bodies; the women, in the habit of Bacchantes, with their hair disheveled, and carrying blazing torches, ran down to the Tiber; where, dipping their torches in the water, they drew them up again with the flame unextinguished, being composed of native sulphur and charcoal. They said that those men were carried off by the gods, whom the machines laid hold of and dragged from their view into secret caves. These were such as refused to take the oath of the society, or to associate in their crimes, or to submit to defilement. This number was exceedingly great now, almost a second state in themselves, and among them were many men and women of noble families.”
(on the Bacchanalia)
Livy: History of Rome, c. 10 CE
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/romrelig2.html
(also see the use of the god Bacchus/Dionysos in art)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~schuffel/english/bacchus/
Aurelio
You are smart,only smart person can do such a smart job.