Are you ready for today's local festivities? (I wonder what the Secret Service will do to any interested suitor who douses Chelsea with water?)Apparently, there's more to the tradition than what filtered down to our family. It seems that girls are first supposed to "swat boys with pussy willows, and boys respond by dousing them with water." Buffalo officials are worried that a local pussy willow shortage could result in "not as many romantic outcomes."
And in case the water thing gets out of hand on this cold March morning, lets remember the origins of this holiday:
During the years of the first Millennium of Christianity, baptisms were celebrated exclusively during the Easter season, particularly Holy Saturday and the Octave of Easter. Tradition states that Prince Mieszko I along with his court were baptized on Easter Monday. Thus, Dyngus Day and its rites of sprinkling with water have become a folk celebration in thanksgiving for the fact that the first king of Poland was baptized into Christianity, bringing Catholicism to Poland.
No comments:
Post a Comment