Smingus Dyngus!

I start with an age old Polish tradition which occurs every Easter Monday, usually starting the day off around 7am (in our house anyway). The picture below about sums it up, the only difference being that most of the action happens indoors, leading to a further hour spent with a mop and bucket…

The first recorded event of this type was back in the Middle Ages when it was known as “Oblewania”. The idea behind it seems to be that boys would “douse” the girls on the first Monday after Easter, hence showing their interest in certain girls. It was said that if a girl got sprinkled with water, she would be married within the year..

There were actually two seperate traditions, during “śmingus” men would pour water on the women and beat their bare legs (with what, we can only guess). During “dyngus” people would go round asking for donations – but any beatings and whippings were not allowed. During the reign of King Władysław Jagiełło, people were actually banned from gathering around wells and ponds, as it was decided that they were overusing them for water games!

Others say it represents the Pagan symbol of Spring and is a way of cleansing and purifiying each other of evils and illnesses. It could also symbolise the renewal of the sacrement of the baptism of Christ, and it was also on Easter Monday that Prince Mieszko of Poland was baptised in 966 A.D.

In our house, it started with my wife having a bucket of semi-warm water poured over her head by her brother whilst climbing the stairs at around 7am. I was unaware and asleep at the time, but the screams penetrated all four walls of the house, waking everybody else up to join the (by then) raging water-fuelled battle. It lasted approximately 20 mins, by which time the floors were standing in water, everybody was thoroughly soaked and my son, Alex (aged 2½), had hidden himself in one of the bedrooms shouting “no like!, no like!”. Little wuss!