Lentorama 2019: Resurrect My Globe!

Day 32: Poland

Easter celebrations are pretty well focused on religion, which isn't surprising given that Poland is almost completely Catholic - and pretty devoutly Catholic at that. When you get to Easter Monday, though, things take a turn.

Easter Monday is known locally as Śmigus-Dyngus, or "Wet Monday." On this day, boys try to soak girls with water, using anything from buckets to squirt guns, and will also try to spank them with willow branches. Tuesday sees the roles reversed.

The origins of all this soaking and spanking is unclear. It appears that they may have been separate activities that eventually merged into one. There's also some thought that there's a pagan fertility ritual at the heart of things, with throwing water on women taking over from watering a Corn Mother doll as an offering to make crops grow. There's also some thought that it represents the baptisms of early Poles when Christianity arrived.

This tradition also takes place in a number of neighboring countries, so the idea that there's some common Slavic origin seems likely.