| Fat Thursday | |
|---|---|
 Plate of Polish pączki | |
| Type | Christian, cultural |
| Significance | Celebration period before fasting season of Lent |
| Celebrations | Feasting |
| Date | 5 days before Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras, 6 days before Ash Wednesday,[1] 52 days before Easter |
| 2023 date | February 16 |
| 2024 date | February 8 |
| 2025 date | February 27 |
| 2026 date | February 12 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Carnival, Fat Tuesday |
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.
- ^ Mroziak, Michael (February 23, 2017). "You've heard of Fat Tuesday, but there's also Fat Thursday". WFBO. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- ^ "Poles gorge themselves on Fat Thursday". TheNews.pl. Archived from the original on April 23, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
- ^ Fat Thursday in Poland – Lodz Post – Poland in English Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine