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[Fat Thursday in Poland – Lodz Post – Poland in English ] or Berliners, fist-sized donuts filled with rose hip jam, and angel wings (faworki), puff pastry fingers served with powdered sugar.
By country
France
Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) is a time when crepes would be served to use up stores of butter or lard and eggs, similar to the Shrove Tuesday tradition regarding pancakes in England.
Germany
Weiberfastnacht is an unofficial holiday in the
Rhineland.
[ "Attack of the Giant Bananas: Germany Kicks off Carnival" Tyrone Daily Herald (February 7, 1996): 9. via Newspapers.com ] 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.
[ "Mark in Germany" Lake Park News (March 2, 1972): 7. via Newspapers.com ] Beueler Weiberfastnacht ("women's carnival in Beuel") is traditionally celebrated in the
Bonn district of Beuel.
[ "This was 'Weiberfastnacht,' and Milady Held the Reins" Salt Lake Tribune (February 6, 1959): 35. via Newspapers.com ] 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.
[Petra Pluwatsch: Weiberfastnacht – Die Geschichte eines ganz besonderen Tages. KiWi, Köln, ]
Greece
Known as Tsiknopempti in
Greece, it is part of the traditional celebrations of (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,
[ "'Fat Thursday' Celebrated by the Romans" Lebanon Daily News (February 27, 1930): 1. via Newspapers.com ] 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".
[Dwight, "Carnival of Venice Opens" The Times (Philadelphia) (February 10, 1899): 7. via Newspapers.com ] 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."
[Marie Corelli, Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten (Floating Press 2015): 376. ]
Netherlands
In
Cologne, since 1824, the so-called
Weiberfastnacht is known. On the Thursday before carnaval, women wear men's clothes, reversing the roles and thus literally "being the man". In the Dutch border village
Groenstraat a precursor to the
Auwwieverbal (Old women ball) or
Auw Wieverdaag (old women day) was known already in the early 19th century. The people at that time earned a living by breeding goats and selling women's hair. The Thursday before carnaval, men would sell the hair to their French buyers. After the sale, as the man had plenty of money, they would go visit the pubs. Out of fear that their men would squander the money raised by their hair, the women would find their husbands to prevent them from wasting it on alcohol. The search along the pubs transformed later to the
Ouwewijvenbal. The women, this time incognito, firmly asserted themselves to their husbands and other men.
[ Stichting Karnaval Ballefruttersgat organiseert het Aaw Wèèvebal – Goirles Belang . Goirlesbelang.nl (28 January 2009). Retrieved on 2015-05-13.]
Poland
In
Poland, Fat Thursday is called tłusty czwartek (which translates to Fat Thursday). 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
Rosa canina petal jam (though others are often used) and topped with powdered sugar, icing or glaze.
(faworki or chrusty) are also commonly consumed on this day.
Slovenia
In Slovenia, Fat Thursday is celebrated with specific culinary traditions. People often enjoy special foods that are rich and hearty. A common treat is “krof,” a type of doughnut that is usually filled with jam, particularly apricot, and dusted with powdered sugar. These doughnuts are a staple of the celebration and are enjoyed by many.
Apart from krof, other fatty and rich foods are also consumed, reflecting the tradition’s focus on indulgence and enjoyment before the austerity of Lent. The celebration is not just about food; it’s also a time for social gatherings, family get-togethers, and community events, often accompanied by music and festivities.
Spain
In
Spain this celebration is called jueves lardero or jueves de comadre and in
Catalan language-speaking areas, dijous gras, a children's holiday.
[Ora W. L. Slater, "Thursday before Lent is Barcelona Children's Day" El Paso Herald (June 25, 1928): 10. via Newspapers.com ] 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.
[Maxine Buren, "February Has Many Pre-Lenten Holidays" Oregon Statesman (February 13, 1960): 6. via Newspapers.com ][ "Catholic Recipe: Dolmas" Catholic Culture.org.]
See also
External links
