Dyngus Day sausage fills Rose stomachs

On Monday the Student Activities Board celebrated a traditional Polish holiday by hosting Dyngus Day on the Union Patio. As part of the festivities, sausages were grilled by members of SAB and live music was played by Justin Caldwell, a band from Nashville, Tennessee.

“Dyngus Day is traditionally the day after Easter in Poland,” explained SAB President Justin Fuller. “It’s only celebrated in two places in the United States: South Bend, Indiana, and Buffalo, New York.” Bringing the holiday to Rose makes it the third.

The tradition began at Rose three years ago, when senior software engineer Justin Hutchings (a native of South Bend) proposed that the SAB pick up the tradition. Usually the holiday falls on the first day back from spring break, as Easter is commonly the last day of the break. However, this year Dyngus Day fell on the Monday during break.

Photo: Andrew Carlson Jen Cringoli and other SAB representatives serve up the sausage at Monday’s belated Dyngus Day celebration.

“This year, we’re doing a belated Dyngus Day,” remarked Hutchings.

The band, Justin Caldwell, was discovered by several members of SAB during their annual National Association for Campus Activities conference, where the band had performed earlier. The band consisted of students who had met each other at Belmont University in Nashville and had stayed together after graduation. The band played a variety of music, taking its influence from reggae, rock, and jazz, according to its website.

Those attending the event were impressed with the Justin Caldwell’s performance. “They even wrote their own Dyngus Day song,” said junior mechanical engineer Simon Leavitt. “The chorus went ‘Everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day’.”

Students also enjoyed the sausages prepared by the SAB. “It makes my day a little bit better when I have a little sausage in me,” remarked senior biomedical engineer Brendan McKiernan.

“I thought it was Dyngus-tacular,” said senior biomedical engineer Brian Murphy.