Central and Eastern Europe, International Journalism and PR

Fat Thursday tradition in Poland

Fat Thursday, in Polish Tłusty Czwartek stemming from a traditional Christian feast marking the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is associated with the celebration of Carnival.

Every year Polish people get crazy about paczki- sort of berliner fist-sized  donuts on Fat Thursday and this tradition stems from the 16th century. The purpose is actually to eat as many donuts as possible on this day. According to statistics every Polish person eats two and a half donuts on that day, which stands for 100 million for the entire nation. On this day Polish people eat also angel wings (faworki), French dough fingers served with powdered sugar. Delicious, I must admit.

On Fat Thursday in Poland you can see long queues outside bakeries from the early hours in Poland, people buying fresh donuts. Most traditional donuts are fried and filled with rose jam, or plum preserve. There are also more modern editions with alcohol: advocate and chocolate.

Fat Thursday is also celebrated abroad where there are big Polish diasporas and Polish tradition is active, for example in the United States and Canada, in Chicago, Michigan and Detroit.

How many donuts have you eaten today?

Photo: Communications0Unlimited.nl

© Copyright www.communications-unlimited.nl, 2020. All rights reserved.