Easter Monday is a merry day – everyone feasts and visits each other. This day is also called a śmigus-dyngus – boys walk around the houses and pour water or symbolically spray women with perfumes.
Śmigus-Dyngus, known as Wet Monday, is an annual tradition in Poland celebrated on Easter Monday. It is a day of merriment and fun, filled with laughter and merry-making. Traditionally, it is a day when boys and men douse girls and women with buckets of water to bring them luck and fertility.
The origins of Śmigus-Dyngus are thought to stem from the pre-Christian era when it was believed that water had special powers. It is also believed that the tradition was a way of celebrating the end of Lent. Over the centuries, the tradition has changed, but it remains an important part of Polish culture.
Nowadays, Śmigus-Dyngus is celebrated with buckets of water, squirt guns, and water balloons or just perfumes. It is common for people to “chase” each other around town, and for the younger generation to play pranks on unsuspecting ‘victims.’ Once the boys pour cold water from buckets on girls or throw them into the river, they will be ‘healthy like a fish’. Boys and men receive small gifts such as sweets or money.
It is a celebration of life and the coming of spring and is a wonderful way to celebrate Easter Monday in Poland.
Easter Monday is also the day when children look for a bunny nest. The children believe that the bunny brings sweet gifts and leaves them in the nest. This custom arrived in Silesia from Germany after World War I and was well-established there. In some homes, children are looking for a bunny the day before, which is Easter Sunday.