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}}, own translation</ref> Chasing your vodka with herrings was a safety measure; this way, you may be still partying on Ash Wedensday, but there's no sin in doing so.

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 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.