Don't Miss Dyngus Day at Biergarten Haus 4/2

It's almost time for the 2nd annual Dyngus Day D.C. celebration at Biergarten Haus (1355 H St. NE). Dyngus Day is a Polish-American version of Śmigus-dyngus (pronounced SHMEE-goose-DING-goose), also known as lany poniedziałek, which means Wet Monday in Polish. The celebration marks the end of Lent, and falls on the day after Easter Sunday. Śmigus-dyngus, which has some rather obvious pagan roots, traditionally involves boys splashing or soaking girls with water, and striking them about the legs with pussy willows.

The celebration that can be found in American cities like Buffalo, NY and Cleveland, OH, is quite different. It's basically a big party with a parade, lots of polka dancing, and plenty of Polish food. The H Street NE event is sponsored by AtlasVet (1326 H St. NE), District Doughnut, @dolessdad, and @DyngusDayDC. Our dear Dr. Matt Antkowiak of AtlasVet happens to hail from Buffalo, which is apparently the Dyngus Day capital of the world, and he's eager to share a little of his joy with all of us.

For one day only Biergarten Haus will take down their German flags and raise Polish ones in their place. They'll serve pierogi, okocim (Polish lager), kielbasa, pazcki (Polish donuts), zywiec (more Polish beer), and more. Come out to enjoy of the food and drink, as well as live polka music from Die Zwei, starting at 6pm Monday, April 2nd. They had a great turn-out last year, so let's make it even bigger and better this time around. They even have new t-shirts and a website.

T-shirt image from @DyngusDayDC's Instagram