Dyngus Day

Ah Dyngus Day… Wait what? And what’s with the women with the pussy willow branches and just what is that guy doing with a bowl of water? This used to be my reaction to hearing about this Polish holiday that you always hear about in Buffalo.

Boiled down, Dyngus Day is a great big party. The ladies get branches of pussy willows to whap (and not beat senseless) the guys and the guys get to spritz the ladies with water. All this in an attempt to flirt and socialize.

Fortunately there is a handy site up for all your history and party needs. Fortunately their history page sheds some light on the whole tradition. Buffalo’s Official Dyngus Day Site.

They also have a very full event scheduled.

And by ‘full’ I mean it is second only to St. Patrick’s day with all it’s party and happenings. It is definitely something to check out. The main parade starts at 5pm  and it travels the Historic Polonia District. It begins at Corpus Christi Church; Ends at Buffalo Central Terminal.

Have a Happy Dyngus Day!

Once Upon a Time...

Fifteen years ago I moved with my family to the Buffalo area in New York state.

Why am I being so specific? Prior to living here I could not seem to recall have ever heard of Buffalo. The ones that did know of it only knew it got a lot of snow. Knowing I can't change that I am still going to get it out there that there is a lot more to Buffalo then just snow.

Buffalo also has some of the most helpful people I have ever met or run across. Seriously, this city is called many names (Queen City, Nickle City, City of Lights) but The City of Good Neighbors seems to fit the bill best. I'm not saying it's all sunshine and rainbows, but every time I have had to ask for directions from a random person they always try to help as best as they can.


yet for being the second most populated city in New York (over 260,000 per 2010 census) I have heard a lot of people talking about 'what to do today/tonight'.  (The second popular question is 'what is Dingus day'.) I think the answer is that there is just so much going on that everyone gets overwhelmed.

There are a bunch of big yearly attractions that more people out side of the city are learning about. Then you have the countless small local events that pop up seemingly over night or have always been. When it comes to finding them it can be hard if you don't know were to start looking. Around Buffalo word of mouth is king. However, with the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and cell phones Things are starting to become more accessible. There are almost endless new events popping up because of this.

Then you have all the colleges around and in the city. Which should be the biggest sign that there are things to do because once in a while college students have to do other things besides study. Seriously, there are about eight different colleges with multiple different campuses spread about the area.

With that in mind I am going to be posting in separate sites.

http://MuchAdoAboutBuffalo.blogspot.com
Will have all my posts, a list of links to and a calender of what events I find out about. If i happen to find out about them after the fact I will add them and check to see if they are recurring or one shots.

http://MuchAdoAboutBuffalo.tumblr.com
My posts will also be here, but along with them I will be able to reblog other things that show up on tumbler. In theory this will be the more active source because of what it is.

https://twitter.com/#!/MuchAdoBuffalo
It will either be very quiet of have retweets galore. With the occasional tweet about new posts.

So! With all that out of the way I can dive right in to the mysteries of a friendly city.