Fat Thursday: preparing for Lent

The Polish way of praise with fat and flour, fried and coated with sugar to not lose weight

Fat Thursday in Poland is a Catholic celebration of Lent-fasting by fattening up first to be closer to G

Catholics get a Hindu tika for Ash Wednesday

Fat Thursday (French Jeudi Gras, not to be confused with next week's Maundy Thursday, ahead of Mardi Gras) on the Catholic Calendar takes place on the Thursday ahead of Ash (Tilaka) Wednesday (the official start of Lent) in February, right before the 40-day period of Lent. That’s February 27 this year.

• There's a Buddhist "Lent," too, called Vas

And yes, it’s exactly what readers may be thinking — a time to indulge. Clear the kitchen and pantry in preparation for FASTING. That’s what Lent is all about, abnegation, austerity, asceticism as watered down as can be and still called a sacrifice and abstention.

• 

  I'm going to kill this Lamb (of God) and eat him

  Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is coming, the time of year all Catholics become ducks and stuff themselves (Foie Gras) until, loving the Lamb of God, they demand Veal (made of baby Cow) and then go back to eating baby Lambs, chopped

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As the lean season of Lent draws near, food becomes central to many peoples’ thoughts. There’s nothing like a fast (intentional cleansing starvation) to get us thinking about food, particularly those forbidden treats loaded with calorific ickiness.

If donuts were the first thing that came to mind, then that mind is on the right track because this holiday, originating in Catholic Poland, is about stuffing our faces with Polish donuts, known as pączki, and a few other exotically named sweet treats. Pancakes come to mind.

Every Fatso knows calories don't count today.

History of Fat Thursday

Though the exact origin of how this holiday came to be founded is unknown [though the eating up of all the forbidden foodstuffs of the next forty days seems like a pretty convincing explanation], the Polish tradition of consuming donuts is very much known. It dates as far back as the 1500s.

On the religious side of things, Fat Thursday is the last hurrah before the fasting period of Lent, wherein devout Catholics give up many indulgences in the 40 days leading up to Easter, the pagan Day of Rebirth (Resurrection and fertility), when the world springs back to green life after winter.

Roman Catholicism is as far from Christ's message as Protestantism

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Traditionally, Catholics abstain from meat and alcohol during this period, as the idea is to give up things one is addicted to, loves, abuses, can’t give up even though one knows one should, in order to focus on the meaning of Easter.

Fat Thursday is known as Tłusty Czwartek in Poland. For those who doubt, the "fat" part of the name refers to the fried sugar crust of different types of pączki (pronounced \poonch-key\ or \pots-ski\) consumed by Poles all over the European country.

The Pope is dying, and all we're worried about is will he get his Angel Wings? We'll get ours.

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Is that where the US jelly doughnut comes from?

The most traditional form of pączki is a fluffy donut filled with rosehip jam and dusted with powdered white sugar that looks like cocaine and the contents of a bloody nose on toast.

However, there are many variations now when it comes to fillings. Essentially, this day serves a dual purpose, as it allows Poles to indulge guilt-free in their favorite confectionery, while also carrying a religious meaning.

Celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans | National Geographic instead of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Rio Carnaval: Fat Tuesday in Brazil: Carnival in Rio (Portuguese Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent that is considered the biggest (and probably the sexiest and most decadent) celebration of Carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets, first celebrated in 1723 (wiki).

Guilty sexy Catholics party for Rio Carnival

Some even refer to the day as International Polish Donut Day, and the average Pole will eat two or three today, which translates to about 1,050 empty calories (if anyone is counting, though we’re not)!

If the thought of consuming donuts scares an eater (because of the gluten, fried oil, toxic white sugar, strange fillings, rancidity and carcinogenic acrylamides from heat exposure), the recommendation is to eat just one gluten-free one with a better sweetener (agave, coconut blossom powder, erythritol, monk fruit, birch xylitol, or herbal stevia, because not eating a donut on this day means bad luck for the rest of the year, according to fat Polish tradition.

Another traditional Polish dessert that is extremely popular on this day is faworki, in some places, also known as Angel Wings. Faworki are thin gluten dough ribbons, fried until crispy and sprinkled with powdered white sugar. More

• National Day Today, 2/27/25; Recovering Catholic Madison, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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