Monday, April 25, 2011

Smigus Dyngus Day!

Marilyn Mapes & descendents Easter photo.
A rather extreme version of the day.

Today was Smigus Dyngus day in Poland. It's an unusual tradition of Easter Monday. This day (Monday after Easter Sunday) is called also in Polish "Wet Monday", in Polish: "Mokry Poniedzialek" or "Lany Poniedzialek". Easter Monday is also a holiday in Poland. It was traditionally the day when boys tried to drench girls with squirt guns or buckets of water. "Smigus" comes from the word smigac meaning swish with a cane since men tap the ankles and legs of the girls. Dyngus comes probably from German word dingen which means to come to an agreement since the girls needed to give men money to stop being swished and splashed. The more a girl is sprayed with water, the higher are her chances of  getting  married. Usually groups of young boys are waiting for accidental passerbys near the farmer markets or in the corners of the streets. Older men behave like gentlemen spraying their wives with cologne water rather than with the regular one. The girls got their chances for revenge the following day. They can spray boys with water as much as they wanted on Tuesday.

Joan spent the afternoon taking all the ingredients given to her to make the salad I mentioned in an earlier post.  I helped her chopping up all the vegetables into little pieces and then she put it all together.  We'll have it tonight with rolada's.  I'm sure it will be good.

Dzi艣 by艂 dzie艅 w Smigus Dyngus Polska. To niezwyk艂y tradycji Poniedzia艂ek Wielkanocny. Dzi艣 (poniedzia艂ek po Niedzieli Wielkanocnej) nazywa si臋 tak偶e w j臋zyku polskim "Wet Monday ", w j臋zyku polskim: "Mokry Poniedzia艂ka"lub"Lany Poniedzia艂ka". Poniedzia艂ek Wielkanocny jest tak偶e 艣wi臋tem w Polska. To by艂 tradycyjnie dzie艅, kiedy ch艂opcy pr贸bowali obla膰 dziewczyny z broni膮 squirt lub wiadra wody. "Smigus"pochodzi od s艂owa oznaczaj膮cego swish smigac z lask膮 od m臋偶czyzn wybierz kostek i n贸g z dziewcz膮t. Dyngus pochodzi prawdopodobnie od niemieckiego s艂owa, kt贸re oznacza Dingen aby doj艣膰 do porozumienia, poniewa偶 dziewczyny potrzebne do nadania m臋偶czyzn pieni膮dze przestan膮 by膰 swished i okulary ochronne. Im bardziej dziewczyna jest zraszane wod膮, tym wi臋ksze s膮 jej szanse na 艣lub. Zwykle grupy m艂odych ch艂opc贸w czeka przypadkowych passerbys w pobli偶u rynk贸w rolnika lub w rogach ulic. Starsi m臋偶czy藕ni zachowuj膮 si臋 jak panowie z 偶onami rozpylania wody kolo艅skiej, a nie z regularne. dziewcz膮t, ale ich szanse na rewan偶 nast臋pnego dnia. Mog膮 ch艂opc贸w spryska膰 wod膮 tyle, ile chcia艂 we wtorek.


Joan sp臋dzi艂a popo艂udnie z uwzgl臋dnieniem wszystkich sk艂adnik贸w danego jej zrobi膰 sa艂atk臋 ju偶 wspomnia艂em we wcze艣niejszym post. Pomog艂em jej dzielenia wszystkie warzywa na ma艂e kawa艂ki i potem wrzuci膰 je wszystkie razem. Musimy go dzisiaj rolada z firmy. Jestem pewien, 偶e b臋dzie dobrze.