I think I like the Brit tradition of Shrove Tuesday - pancakes for supper tonight, maybe.

Fat Tuesday, the way I was taught, was the Annual Pig Out Day before Lent and Teh Fasting. Eat all of your favorite things before you offer it all up for the 40 days.

We didn't have to offer it all up, just whatever was a distraction from god or living a holy life. So, if you had a kind of obsession with- say going shopping- you'd quit that and spend that time thinking about how you and god could be better homies. If your thing, like mine, is scotch, every time you go to reach for a scotch, you contemplate your relationship with god instead.

A friend of mine who is a huge whisky drinker gives up Jameson every year and drinks beer instead.

I expect Fat Tuesday has been what it's called there for a long, long time.

Never heard it called that there once. In fact, the US was the first time I heard the day named in anything other than French. [eta: no, Shrove Tuesday is familiar...never put two and two together]

Lemme go google.

That's right! Pancake Day! I forgot!

From Wikipedia:

Shrove Tuesday is the term used in the English-speaking countries of the United Kingdom[1], Ireland[2], and Australia[3] to refer to the day after Collop Monday and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In these countries, and amongst Anglicans in Canada, this day is also known as Pancake Day, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.[4][5][6] In other parts of the world—for example, in historically Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States and elsewhere—this day is called Mardi Gras, and in areas with large Polish-immigrant populations (for example, Chicago and Detroit) it is known as Paczki Day.

Makes sense.

Ita (your name is capped against my will - I'm on the blackberry which is correcting me despitew myself) it's not Fat Tuesday in England. It is Shrove Tuesday, instead.

Damnably slow thumbs.

Now that the wikipedia entry has been corrected, I read the page on Fat Thursday, and the last part, about the Greek version, made me giggle and giggle:

Fat Thursday (Polish T?usty czwartek, German Fetter Donnerstag or Schmutziger Donnerstag) is a traditional Polish and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. It is similar to, but should not be confused with, the French festival of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). Traditionally it is a day of gluttony and belly-worship, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are p?czki or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.

In Italy, Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday) is celebrated, too, but is not very different from Martedì Grasso (Fat Tuesday). It is also similar to the Greek custom of Tsiknopempti (loosely translatable as "Barbecue Thursday"), which involves the massive consumption of barbecued meat.

I can't explain why "Barbecue Thursday" strikes me as so funny, but there it is.

Also -- "belly worship"? Heh.

And finally, am I wrong, or does Schmutziger Donnerstag translate to "Dirty Thursday"? Heh. Dirty Thursday.

According to that foodie site's paczki thread (yes, they have their own thread), the Thursday before Ash Wednesday is called what Steph said upthread, which translates to "Fat Thursday." Today, Fat Tuesday according to other cultures, is called "Ostatki"--meaning the last day you can feast before Lent.

Collop Monday? What the hell is THAT?