Śmigus-Dyngus – Dyngus Day

WHAT IS DYNGUS DAY?

Date Approx1930-1945 Source Boston Public Library - http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/7045688651/ Author Nationwide Specialty Co., Arlington, Texas -- In Buffalo, N.Y., Stanley Novelty Co., 200 S. Ogden St.

Source Boston Public Library/
Author: Buffalo, N.Y., Stanley Novelty Co., 200 S. Ogden St.

Dyngus Day in America represents an age old tradition that is believed to have been started during the Early Middle Ages in Poland, during the Piast period. It may never really be revealed because nothing from that period has any clear printed history in Poland. It is postulated that Dyngus Day is associated by the Baptism of Mieszko I, the creator of the polish state when Poland became a Catholic nation.

Dyngus Day is Easter Monday and is called Śmigus-Dyngus and is also known as Lany Poniedziałek or Wet Monday. The tradition involved a festival and in part boys spanking girls with pussy willow branches and drenching them with water on Monday. The girls repaid the favor on the following Tuesday. Other rituals were also popular, but eventually the throwing of water and tapping with pussy willow branches were practiced by both sexes on the same day, Easter Monday which continues to this day.

Of Interest, Śmigus-Dynguss were originally separate events. Śmigus involved the act of throwing water and Dyngus was the act of using Pisanki to buy your way out of getting a soaking or Śmigus. Both traditions merged over time.

Today the spirit of Dyngus Day is a celebration of the end of the Easter Lenten Season and the coming of spring, a time believed to be a time of cleansing, purification, and fertility.

Today Dingus Day In America most likely means Dyngus Day Buffalo which is called an annual post Lenten bash with a cast of tens of thousands of revelers. It is considered by many to be the largest Dyngus Day celebration in the country today.

It is a day of celebrating Polish Pride with a parade, red and white apparel, pussy willows, water, Polka Bands, Polish Food, and Beer!