We just learned about Dyngus Day yesterday, and man have we been missing out. All those years we could have woken up to boys throwing buckets of water over our heads or hitting our legs with willow branches. All those times we could have been eating kielbasa and pierogi. If you have no idea what we're talking about, read on...
Dyngus Day is a Polish holiday, celebrated the Monday after Easter. It originally commemorated the baptism of Prince Mieszko I, the first ruler of Poland, which brought Christianity to the country. That started the tradition of sprinkling water on people on Dyngus Day morning, which evolved into the custom of young men showing their affection for a girl by dumping water on her head and whipping her legs with branches.
Romantic!
Today, the largest Dyngus Day celebration in the U.S. is in Buffalo, New York. It's also a big holiday in South Bend, Indiana, where it marks the beginning of the political primary season.
We're not too big on being smacked with willow branches, but we do love Polish specialties like pierogi and kielbasa. And bigos, a sweet and sour Polish stew with sauerkraut, pork, mushrooms, tomatoes, and sometimes apples or honey, sounds delicious. If you're not too full from your Easter eating, carry on with Dyngus Day.
Need some food sources? Read this guide to the Polish markets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Here are some recipes:
• Mrs. Kostyra's Kielbasa (she's Martha Stewart's mom), above.
• Potato and Goat Cheese Pierogi, also from Martha Stewart
• Fried Sauerkraut Cakes with Kielbasa, from Gourmet
• Bigos Stew, from Chow
More about Dyngus Day:
• Dyngus Day Buffalo
Related: How to Make a Butter Lamb for Easter (another Polish tradition!)
(Image: MarthaStewart.com)
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We had keilbasa and pierogi last night with Easter dinner. OMG - awesome.
Sounds fun if you're a boy - not so much if you're a girl who just spent time on her hairdo!
The czechs do something similar for Easter. Although the tradition is that boys weave willow branches into a braid and then threaten to hit the girls with them... unless the girls give them Easter eggs. So the idea is that the men go off into the woods looking for thin branches and braiding them, while the women are making easter eggs, and then they all come together to exchange eggs later.
But yea, the girls get the short end of the stick (hah!).
In the old country, we used to get plastic-easter-egg-shaped water guns for this, and it was more of an equal-opportunity form of mischief.
there is a polish party house in pittsburgh that celebrates dingus day every year, and water guns are a key part of the celebration :)
actually, the whole of eastern europe has this weird tradition of boys beating up girls with willow branches and pouring (sometimes massive) amounts of cold water over them AND some cheap perfume on top of that. and yes, the food in eastern europe (be it poland, czech republic or slovakia) is amazingly good, very hearty! kielbasa rules