Dyngus Day 2009

This year Dyngus day falls on April 13, 2009 (easter monday). City of Laporte will have it's 22nd annual Dyngus day celebration. Free public transportation will be provided by Transporte. City bears no expense, the tavern association pays for everything. Come join the party! Collect your buttons! Get your beeds! Try some good polish food and enjoy cheap drinks and freebees!

Ride the Buses
starting at 4 p.m. at City Hall or 5 p.m. at your favorite stop

Participating Taverns

1. WESTERN INN 610 "J" st. 325-3094
Food-cabbage rolls, potato cakes
Entertainment by Music Man

2. DICK'S BAR 912 Lincolnway 326-9702
Food-polish sausage, kraut, kluski noodles
Entertainment by

3. LITTLE TAVERN 102 Truesdell 362-8624
Food-pierogies
Entertainment by

4. 3RD BASE BAR & GRILL 1201 Pine Lake Ave. 324-0300
Food-polish brats
Entertainment by

5. THE HILL TOP BAR & GRILL 502 Pulaski st 362-6308
Food- kraut dog, chips & polish pickle
Entertainment by

6. PNA CLUB 306 Park st 362-7619
Food- polish sausage sandwich, kraut
entertainment by

7. MICKEY'S 501 Tipton St 362-1826
Food- sauerkraut, sausage
Entertainment by

8. SHOOTERS BAR & GRILL 201 Washington st 362-2417
Food- cabbage rolls
Entertainment by

9. RINGERS SPORTS BAR & GRILL 311 Washington st 326-6412
Food- stuffed cabbage, pierogies
Entertainment by

10. JULIE'S 513 Washington st 324-3346
Food- polish ham sandwich & chips
Entertainment by


Nazdrowie! (Cheers!)



What is Dyngus Day?

Dyngus Day is an old Eastern European tradition celebrating the end of Lent and the rebirth of spring. But in all actuality there’s not a lot of people who celebrate it anywhere. They don’t really celebrate it a on a wide scale in Poland or Eastern Europe anymore. Dyngus Day is largely an American holiday now, celebrated in Polish and Eastern European enclaves in cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, South Bend, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Laporte. Dyngus Day parties began to spring up in every neighborhood where Poles had settled, especially in church halls, community centers and VFW posts. Once upon a time, the Dyngus festivities lasted a week, until the post-Resurrection party was shortened to one day in the 19th century, by decree of the Catholic Church. On that one day, young men would signal their amorous intentions to young women by dousing them with water. (In one iteration of this tradition, the young man sneaks into his intended’s bedroom-most likely with the complicity of the young woman’s mother or father-and wakes her with a bucket of cold water.) Women would respond by beating young men with pussy willows. Thus it is known as Wet Monday in Poland, or smigus-dyngus. Smigus means to strike, more or less, evoking the pussy willows, while dyngus means a worthy gift or ransom, referring to the small gifts, often decorated eggs, that were exchanged as part of the holiday.

The traditions of Dyngus Day predate Christianity in Poland by hundreds of years, and are derived from pagan celebrations welcoming the spring. Like Mardi Gras-its pre-Lenten counterpart-Dyngus Day may be related to the Roman Lupercalia, with which it shares an emphasis on courtship and fertility rituals. So pussy willows signify the advent of spring and rebirth; water signifies life and fertility. The prodigious eating and drinking that attend Dyngus Day signify relief.