Jeremy

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:47:32 -0800

Yeah, I was a little thin on details on this one. In Poland, it's pretty much a water free for all (I was awoken this morning when K. whipped off my blanket, screamed "Smigus-Dyngus," and doused me with water). But anyway, it's a kind of cool tradition, and it's cool how it developed in the Polish diaspora. The above pic, for example, is taken in the US--in Poland, this sort of thing is pretty provincial. In Lodz, where K. was raised, it was very much so just an excuse to cause trouble. Her dad claims that in the late-50s and 60s, when he was a kid, he and his friends would sit on a rook and just dump buckets of water on whatever women walked by (the nicer their clothes, the better). But the entire sneaking into the bedroom of the girl you like to douse her is sort of a country-tradition. It used to be part of the courting process since, of course, the boy who gets in has to be let in by the mother and father. As for in the US, according to K., the Poles who settled in the Midwest were primarily from the mountainous areas in the South of Poland (the "Górale"), so their traditions are a little more old-fashioned, with more of (at least a tongue-in-cheek) reference to the fertility part of the tradition. But in the U.S., it's developed into its own thing. Apparently, Dyngus Day in Michigan is a big sort of Polish St. Patrick's Day--the politicians all head down to the pub to buy drinks, etc.

Dan

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:26:51 -0800

I was in Poland for one of these and they truly went nuts with the throwing of water.

Tom

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:34:37 -0800

I remember doing this as a youngun'. Except that there wasn't the fertility/coupling business attached to it... just an excuse for all the kids, and parents, to drench the hell out of one another. I like it better without all the hyper-traditional crap.

Seattlest: Get Your Willow Switches Ready!

Jeremy

Dan

Tom