Happy Dyngus Day, everyone

Buffalo.com photo by Dan Ruggiero

...from our friends at Dyngus Day Buffalo:

PUSSY WILLOWS ON PARADE THROUGH HISTORIC DISTRICT
Buffalo, New York to Host World’s Only Dyngus Day Parade

For the third consecutive year, the streets of the Historical Polonia District will come alive with Polish pride during the Dyngus Day Buffalo Parade. The parade will take place, TODAY, April 13, 2009 at 5pm starting at Corpus Christ Church and ending at Polonia Hall on Paderewski Drive.

Marchers will passes numerous Dyngus Day parties along the parade route including those at St. Stanislaus Church, the Adam Mickiewicz Library, the Broadway Market, Central Terminal and family owned taverns. Over 75 units are scheduled to appear in the parade.

Bishop Edward Grosz, pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish, will bless the parade as it passes the “Mother Church of Polonia” at the corner of Peckham and Fillmore Avenue at 5:15p. Immediately after the blessing, the bells of the church will ring for the remainder of the parade.

“The Dyngus Day Parade has become an uniquely Buffalo tradition,” explained Parade Coordinator Bernadette Majewski. “This year, we are proud to welcome many of the performing polka bands and neighborhood churches as parade participants.”

A Polish-American tradition, Dyngus Day celebrates the end of the restrictive observance of Lent and the joy of Easter. Over the decades, Buffalo, New York has become the Dyngus Day Capital of the World attracting thousands of people from across the northeast United States.

Although celebrated in Buffalo’s Polonia neighborhood since the arrival of the first Poles in the 1870s, the city’s first modern Dyngus Day celebration was held 48 years ago by the Chopin’s Singing Society, a tradition that continues today. Dyngus Day Buffalo, the provider of marketing and organizational support to area celebrations was founded in 2005. Dyngus Day 2009 will take place on Monday, April 13th.