Fat Thursday is a traditional Polish feast marking the last Thursday before Lent, because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. The most popular items to consume on Fat Thursday are Paczki, large Polish donuts that are usually filled with rose jelly.

Fat Thursday used to mark the beginning of Fat Week – the period of great gluttony during which Polish ancestors would eat loads of lard, bacon and all the kinds of meat consumed with vodka. Nowadays Fat Thursday is associated especially with donuts.

Some say that the one who does not eat any donuts on Fat Thursday will not succeed afterwards. The average Pole will eat 2.5 donuts on Fat Thursday while as a nation they will consume almost 100 million donuts.