The day the Everyone is Polish Proud!
Carol Fisher-Linn
Caption: Buffalo, NY is once again hosting the largest concentration of festival locations, polka bands and Polish traditions in the nation. On Monday, April 18, following Easter Sunday, the Annual Dyngus Day Parade kicks off at 5pm in Buffalo’s Historic Polonia District traveling down Broadway.
Wall Street Journal: Dingus Day “…The tradition started to catch on with younger Buffalonians who were looking to reclaim some of their Polish heritage, or just looking for an excuse to shake off the winter months with vodka and pierogies…” Dyngus Day. It’s a BIG thing!
After creating the last of beautifully decorated eggs (pisanki), slaying the butter lamb and having one’s fill of Easter biala kielbasa (white fresh kielbasa) with special “majeranek” spice (marjoram), pierogi, Śledź (schledzh – herring), sernik (‘SAIR-neek’) – a rich creamy baked cheesecake, babka or makowiec (mah-KO-viets) a poppy seed roll spun like a strudel (just don’t eat one before applying for a security job!) or even left-over frozen paczki washed down with copious amounts of vodka or piwo, aka, beer, It just seems logical that it’s time to work it all off by partying! You can start early on Easter Saturday (maybe after taking the kiddoes to get their baskets blessed at one of the churches in Buffalo’s Polonia district) by participating in an ADULT egg hunt at The RecRoom on Chippewa in Buffalo sponsored by Buffalo’s own Labatt’s.
Buffalo, NY is once again hosting the largest concentration of festival locations, polka bands and Polish traditions in the nation. Smaller festivals can be found in communities with sizable Polish American populations such as: South Bend, IN, Elizabeth, NJ and Bristol, CT. This year, with the marketing support of Dyngus Day USA, Chicago, IL., Cleveland, OH. and Pittsburgh, PA. will, hopefully, all see significant growth in the number of people and places celebrating this quirky event.
On Monday, April 18, following Easter Sunday, the Annual Dyngus Day Parade kicks off at 5pm in Buffalo’s Historic Polonia District traveling down Broadway. Following the parade, people are invited to head down Fillmore Avenue which was traditionally part of the parade route for a total experience of a day in Polonia. As with many things, the Dyngus Day celebrations began very small with the Chopin Singing Society in the 60’s, but it didn’t take any time at all for Buffalo’s Polish Pride to kick in, turning the parade into moving sea of Poland’s colors, red and white. Between the shrieking fire truck sirens and their spraying hoses (water is a MUST on Dyngus Day), the raucous polka bands (best anywhere), floats, polka dancers and marching units it is an hour filled with mayhem and delight. Be prepared to be sprinkled at the least or have a bucket of water tossed by an overly zealous Dyngus Day celebrant. Remember, it’s spring and with spring comes exuberance, mischief and exaggerated adherence to old customs. The ancient custom of pouring water is a spring rite of cleansing and fertility. The practice of gently switching with willow branches is also an ancient custom for young men to get the attention of young ladies. To cap it off for Poles, Dyngus Day marks the day Prince Mieszko 1st was baptized, thus bringing Catholicism to Poland. Incidentally, there is an old legend about butterfly-chasing baby kittens falling into a raging river, with the mother cat unable to save them. As she wept, the willows heard her and dropped their graceful arms into the water so the kittens could cling to them and get safely to shore. From that day forward, every spring, the willows produced fur-like buds where the kittens once clung.
Bottom line, Dyngus Day is a BIG thing! CNN’s Anderson Cooper might do well to accept organizer, Eddie D’s invitation to come see the celebration for himself instead of placing it into his “Ridiculist” and giggling uncontrollably in 2012 without seeing what it is all about. Why, he might even be honored to be the parade’s first “Pussywillow Prince.”