Fat Thursday
TypeChristian, cultural
SignificanceCelebration period before fasting season of Lent
CelebrationsFeasting
Date5 days before Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras, 6 days before Ash Wednesday,[1] 52 days before Easter
2023 dateFebruary 16
2024 dateFebruary 8
2025 dateFebruary 27
2026 dateFebruary 12
FrequencyAnnual
Related toCarnival, Fat Tuesday
A plate of Polish pączki
A plate of angel wings
"Bizcochos" and "mona" on Fat Thursday in Albacete, Spain

Fat Thursday is a Christian tradition in some countries marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the days leading up to Ash Wednesday provide the last opportunity for feasting (including simply eating forbidden items) until Easter. Traditionally it is a day dedicated to eating, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals usually not eaten during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki in Poland[2][3] or Berliners, fist-sized donuts filled with rose hip jam, and angel wings (faworki), puff pastry fingers served with powdered sugar.

By country

Poland

In Poland, Fat Thursday is called tłusty czwartek. People purchase their favorite pastries from their local bakeries. Traditional foods include pączki (doughnuts), which are large deep-fried pieces of yeast dough, traditionally filled with fruit jam or rose petal jam (though others are often used) and topped with powdered sugar, icing or glaze.[4][5] Angel wings (faworki or chruściki) are also commonly consumed on this day.

Germany

Weiberfastnacht is an unofficial holiday in the Rhineland.[6] At the majority of workplaces, work ends before noon. Celebrations start at 11:11 am in Germany. In comparison with Rosenmontag, there are hardly any parades, but people wear costumes and celebrate in pubs and in the streets.[7] Beueler Weiberfastnacht ("women's carnival in Beuel") is traditionally celebrated in the Bonn district of Beuel.[8] The tradition is said to have started here in 1824, when local women first formed their own "carnival committee". The symbolic storming of the Beuel town hall is broadcast live on TV. In many towns across the state of North Rhine Westphalia, a ritual "takeover" of the town halls by local women has become tradition. Among other established customs, on that day women cut off the ties of men, which are seen as a symbol of men's status. The men wear the stumps of their ties and get a Bützchen (little kiss) as compensation.[9]

Greece

Known as Tsiknopempti in Greece, it is part of the traditional celebrations of Apókries (Απόκριες), the Greek Carnival season. The celebration, normally translated as Smelly Thursday, Charred Thursday, or Smoky Thursday, centers on the consumption of large amounts of grilled and roasted meats.

Italy

Giovedì grasso (Fat Thursday) is celebrated in Italy,[10] but it is not very different from martedì grasso (Shrove Tuesday). In Venice at the turn of the twentieth century, for example, it was marked by "masquerades, a battle of flowers on the Plaza, a general illumination and the opening of the lottery".[11] The English writer Marie Corelli mentioned giovedì grasso (as "Giovedi Grasso") in her second novel, Vendetta (1886), as a day when "the fooling and the mumming, the dancing, shrieking, and screaming would be at its height."[12]

Spain

In Spain this celebration is called jueves lardero or jueves de comadre and in Catalan-speaking areas, dijous gras, a children's holiday.[13] In Albacete in Spain community of Castille-La Mancha, jueves lardero or Dia de la Mona is celebrated with a round pastry with a boiled egg in the middle called mona. In Aragon a meal is prepared with a special sausage from Graus while in Catalonia the tradition is to eat sweet Bunyols and Botifarra d’ou.

Other traditions

Syrian Catholics have celebrated the day as "Drunkard's Thursday" with dolmas as the traditional food.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mroziak, Michael (February 23, 2017). "You've heard of Fat Tuesday, but there's also Fat Thursday". WFBO. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Poles gorge themselves on Fat Thursday". TheNews.pl. Archived from the original on April 23, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ Fat Thursday in Poland – Lodz Post – Poland in English Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Fat Thursday & Herring Night". inyourpocket.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Poland celebrates 'Fat Thursday'". thenews.pl. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Attack of the Giant Bananas: Germany Kicks off Carnival" Archived May 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Tyrone Daily Herald (February 7, 1996): 9. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  7. ↑ "Mark in Germany" Archived May 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Lake Park News (March 2, 1972): 7. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  8. ↑ "This was 'Weiberfastnacht,' and Milady Held the Reins" Archived May 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Salt Lake Tribune (February 6, 1959): 35. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  9. ↑ Petra Pluwatsch: Weiberfastnacht – Die Geschichte eines ganz besonderen Tages. KiWi, Köln, ISBN 978-3-462-03805-7
  10. ↑ "'Fat Thursday' Celebrated by the Romans" Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Lebanon Daily News (February 27, 1930): 1. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  11. ↑ Dwight, "Carnival of Venice Opens" Archived May 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine The Times (Philadelphia) (February 10, 1899): 7. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  12. ↑ Marie Corelli, Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten Archived January 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine (Floating Press 2015): 376. ISBN 978-1776587513
  13. ↑ Ora W. L. Slater, "Thursday before Lent is Barcelona Children's Day" Archived May 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine El Paso Herald (June 25, 1928): 10. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  14. ↑ Maxine Buren, "February Has Many Pre-Lenten Holidays" Archived May 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Oregon Statesman (February 13, 1960): 6. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  15. ↑ "Catholic Recipe: Dolmas" Archived September 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Catholic Culture.org.
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