BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Buffalo area’s Polish-American community is celebrating Dyngus Day.
The day-after-Easter festivities celebrate the end of the Lenten season. Over the decades, Dyngus Day has become a tradition in the Buffalo area, home to a large Polish-American population.
While the tradition dates back centuries in Poland, Dyngus Day in Buffalo had its start in 1961, when the Chopin Singing Society hosted a party in a Polish neighborhood.
The celebrations spread to the suburbs over the decades, with taverns, restaurants and community centers hosting festivities featuring parades, polka bands and Polish food.
Dyngus Day tradition calls for men and women to sprinkle one another with water and to tap the opposite sex with pussy willow branches.
Celebrations are also being held in Pittsburgh, Chicago and South Bend, Ind.
Originally posted 2009-04-13 08:53:53.
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