According to the Buffalo News, there is a shortage of pussy willow branches in Buffalo, New York, which could put a damper on today’s Dyngus Day celebration. The News blames a number of 80-degree days in March for the shortage.
They say everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day, a holiday to celebrate the end of Lent. It has become the Polish-American answer to Saint Patrick’s Day in Buffalo. People celebrate their real or imagined Polish heritage by splashing each other with water, tapping each other with pussy willows, eating pierogies, and dancing to polka music in the old abandoned railroad terminal. See a video on Buffalo’s Dyngus Day celebrations here.
