Changes

[[File:Antoni Zaleski, Luty.jpg|thumb|Typical February pastimes and rituals in 19th-century Warsaw according to Antoni Zaleski. What we have here are both joyful Carnival motifs (dancing parties, masked balls, sleigh rides, skating) and the somber calebration celebration of Ash Wednesday. On the left-hand side, we can see a culinary allegory of the fight between Carnival and Lent: a beaming baker carrying a platter of ''pączki'' and, lurking in the shadow, a hooded fisherman holding a bunch of herrings.]]

Let's now tackle the calendar question: why does "Pączki Day" in America coincide with Fat Tuesday and not Fat Thursday as it does in Poland? Or maybe we should turn this question around: why doesn't Carnival in Poland culminate on the very last day before Lent, which would be logical, but six days earlier? What we can say for sure is that both Fat Days have something to do with Lent. After all, the entire goal of celebrating Carnival was to have fun in advance and also to use up the stored food that would be prosribed during Lent and wouldn't last until Easter. In the days of yore, people used take fasting more seriously, which also meant that pre-fasting revelry was more vibrant and heartfelt. So let's start by looking at how people used to fast in the past.

Pre-Lent contained three Sundays, known as ''Septuagesima, Sexagesima'' and ''Quinquagesima'', that is, "Seventieth", "Sixtieth" and "Fiftieth" in Latin. These names obviously make no sense, because Sundays tend to come every seven days, rather than every ten days, and there's no way to count 70, 60 or 50 days from any of them down to Easter. Pre-Lent is also observed in the Orthdox Church, but it's more rigorous than the optional fast of its Catholic equivalent. The Orthodox use this time to gradually remove certain food types from their diet. They call the second Sunday of Pre-Lent "Meatfare Sunday" , as it's the day when they say farewell to meat. They can still consume dairy products during the next week, until Cheesefare Sunday. The next day is Clean Monday, when Orthodox Lent begins; there's no Ash Wednesday in this tradition.

In some countries, like France, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Fat ThursdayTuesday. In England, it's Pancake Tuesday. In And in Poland, it's Herring Day (''Śledzik'' or ''Śledziówka''). But herring is a fasting lean dish, so why would you celebrate the last day ''before '' Lent by feasting on having Lenten foodalready? You know you're gonna be sick of it by the time Lent is over. Well, the reason is quite logical, actually. When you're partying, it's easy to lose track of time and not realise that you've slipped into Lenten territory. And, as they used to say in Poland, "on Shrove Tuesday the devil stands outside the tavern door and marks down those leaving after midnight."<ref>{{Cyt

[[File:Karnawał na świecie.jpg|thumb|Carnival traditions around the world: ''Carnvale'' in Venice, ''CaravalCarnaval'' in Rio de Janeiro, ''Mardi Gras'' in New Orleans and ''Tłusty Czwartek'' in Poland. Which one do you like best?]]This may be another reason why the peak day of Polish Carnival is six days before Lent. You want to put some buffer between the fat-laced revelry and the mandatory fast. And don't it's think this is only a Polish idea. Fat Thursday is also observed in Italy (''giovedì grasso''), Spain (''jueves lardero''), Swabia (''Schmotziger Donnerstag''), Luxembourg (''Fetten Donneschdeg'') and Picardy (''jeudi jeudyou''). In the Catholic South Slavic countries (Croatia and Slovakia) the peak of the Carnival falls on Shrovetide Sunday. In the Nordic countries the biggest parties are held on Shrove Monday, known as ''Fastelavn''. On the same day people also have fun in the Rhineland, where they celebrate ''Rosenmontag'' (usually translated as "Rose Monday" even though it actually comes from the dialectical verb "''roose''", meaning "to party"). In Cornwall the day is known as "Peasen Monday", a day for eating peasoup, while in other parts of England it's "Collop Monday", observed by eating pork collops. But in most countries, including France, the Carnival's peak day is Shrove (or Fat) Tuesday.

French colonists have brought their tradition to North America. Today it's the New Orleans version of Fat Tuesday, or ''Mardi Gras'' in French, that is best known. Women from all over the United States use this occasion to come to bare their personal little packages of goodness (not to be confused with ''beignets'', or actual local doughnuts) on Bourbon Street in return for strings of green, yellow and purple beans beads tossed down to them by men standing on balconies. What a beautiful custom! But still not as good as Polish ''pączki'', is it? Anyway, it seems that in the great melting pot of cultures that the United States are, ''pączki'' come from Poland, but they are eaten on the French Fat Tuesday.