Fat Thursday

Fat Thursday (German Fetter Donnerstag, Schmutziger Donnerstag, or in areas where carnival is celebrated Weiberfastnacht; Greek Τσικνοπέμπτη (Tsiknopempti); Polish Tłusty czwartek) is a traditional Polish and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. It is similar to, but should not be confused with, the French festival of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). 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 forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.

In Italy, Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday) is also celebrated, but it is not very different from Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday). It is also similar to the Greek custom of Tsiknopempti (loosely translatable as "Barbecue Thursday"), which involves the massive consumption of charred meat in the evening of Thursday, ten days before the beginning of the Great Lent (the Orthodox stop eating meat a week before Lent starts). In Spain this celebration is called jueves lardero, and in Catalan-speaking areas, dijous gras.

In Albacete in central Spain, Jueves Lardero is celebrated with a square pastry called a bizcocho (see also Bizcocho (disambiguation)) and a round pastry called a mona.

In Rhineland (Germany) Weiberfastnacht is an unofficial holiday. The work at the majority of workplaces ends at noon. The celebration starts at 11:11am. In comparison with Rosenmontag there are fewer parades but the people wear costumes and celebrate in the streets. In the Bonn district Beuel Beueler Weiberfastnacht (washerwomen's carnival) is traditionally celebrated as the main parade. The symbolic storming of the town hall is broadcast live on TV. The storming of the town halls of the women in many cities and towns in the Rhineland and Westphalia has become tradition. It’s a custom on that day that women cut off the ties of men, which are seen as a symbol of the men’s power. The men wear the stumps of their ties and get a Bützchen (little kiss) as compensation.