Happy Smingus Dingus

I hope you are reading this post on Monday, April 13th! Because if you are, it's not too late to join in on a fun Polish Holiday.

The Monday after Easter is the craziest day of the year in Poland--Smingus Dingus (pronounced Shmeengus Deengus). It's a national water fight day. All day long, there are no limitations to who you can soak: friend or stranger, old or young, boy or girl. (Traditionally, the holiday started as a day for boys to soak girls that they liked, but it has evolved to an equal gender water fight).

I have vivid memories waking up that first Smingus Dingus day in Poland and looking outside to see the streets completely empty (everyone tries to stay inside that day). And then I spotted a young boy with goggles and a backpack full of water. He was walking around looking for his first victim. We begged the Elders to postpone district meeting, but they insisted we come to the meetinghouse. An hour later, that same young boy we saw ended up getting us as we jumped onto the public tram. Later, as we walked down an empty sidewalk in the city, we heard the alarming sound of water dropping a few feet ahead of us. We looked up to the tall apartment building and we could see some heads poking out of windows. We ran, but we were too easy of a target. By the time we got to the meetinghouse, we were horrified and wet. But of course our dear Elders were anxiously waiting there to soak us from the upper windows as we unlocked the main door. Oh, the fun of being in a new country!

So, that's one Holiday I have to hang on to.

Poor Paul!

He is my main target right now, because our girls wouldn't understand, and our neighbors wouldn't like it. The great thing is, I think he's forgotten about it! I try not to bring it up. I'd hate to get soaked first.

Last year, I almost forgot about it. At about 10pm, Paul was coming up the stairs for us to go to sleep. I poured a small amount of water from a drinking glass and got him good. It shocked him SO bad! He said that he was just thinking, "what was that for?" He thought I must have been mad at him or something. I can't wait for his reaction tonight as he is mowing the lawn (laughing).

UPDATE: some have requested to know how it ended. Well, he was too quick while mowing the lawn, but just before we ended our yard work, I called him over, saying, "do you know what today is?" and sprayed him a little. He had totally forgot, but he admitted that I was pretty nice to him to not soak him worse. I admit, I was afraid to get it back. But he just kept smiling, and I knew revenge would come sometime that night. Right before bed, he got me while I was coming up the stairs, when I was totally not expecting it! We called it even and went to bed on good terms.