Some call it the Mardi Gras of the Northeast.
Others call it Wet Monday.
But Dyngus Day is probably best-described as a gigantic Polish party in Buffalo: a plethora of polka, parades and pussy willow-waving flirts.
Oh, and don’t forget the squirt guns.
“It’s a spectacle, something everyone should do at least once,” said Mike Ilnicki, a St. Catharines Polish-Canadian who headed to Buffalo Monday night for the traditional post-Lent celebration.
“It’s a Polish festival, first and foremost. But everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day.”
Dyngus Day historically celebrates the joy of Easter after the sombre, restrictive period of Lent. The spring folk celebration features flirtatious boys and girls throwing water and swatting each other with pussy willows.
The ritual has roots in several eastern European countries.
In Buffalo, however, Dyngus Day has morphed into an extravaganza attracting tens of thousands of Polish partyers to western New York – even if they’re only Polish for a day.
[read full story at The Standard’s website]
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