I just learned something so wonderful, I felt compelled to use the world wide web to let people know about it. Were you aware that the Monday after Easter is a Polish holiday called “Dyngus Day”? It’s true! Dyngus Day! Pronouced “Dingus Day!” How cool is that?!
Dyngus Day involves boys and girls splashing and slapping each other with water and pussywillows. Here’s a translation of a fair-warning poem they sing, knocking on doors:
Smigus! Dyngus! All for fun, Dump some water with a smile! If not from a cup, then from a pitcher, Smigus-Dyngus starts at dawn! It’s an old Polish custom, just so you’ll know and not yell, when on the second day of Easter, your jacket’s all soaking wet.
And where, you’re probably wondering, is the Dyngus Day Capital of the USA? Not suprisingly, Polka Music Hall of Fame luminary Lenny Gomulka has an opinion on that:
“I have enjoyed the excitement of Dyngus Day in several cities and towns,” he says, “however, no where is this holiday celebrated unilaterally and dynamically as it is in Buffalo, New York.”
See? I told you humans aren’t all that bad. How can you not love a species like this?
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