Italians love to eat. I’m Italian American, so it’s OK for me to admit this. We look for any excuse to talk about food, cook food, and most importantly, eat food. Christmas is obviously no exception. Come Christmastime, my family and I, who now live in Italy, start getting ready for Christmas Eve, “La Vigilia” where we prepare a traditional Christmas dinner for The Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Now, I have a secret to fill you in on: I’m not a big fish eater, so for me, the feast can prove a challenge. As the years have gone on, I have found a way to make the concept of the feast work for our family. And really, it has a lot to do with trusting the process.
First, a little history about the feast.
The long tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates to Roman times of Catholics abstaining from eating meat on the eve of a feast day. No meat or animal fats could be used on these days, so observant Catholics ate fish. Italians feast on a beautiful grand feast of … you guessed it; seven differently prepared dishes focused on fish. This tradition was introduced in the US by Southern Italian immigrants in New York City’s little Italy in the late 1800s.
It is unclear how the name and the number seven came about, though there are some theories that the number seven came from the seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church or the seven hills of Rome. And while yes, the name refers to seven fishes, there is no obligation on exactly how many dishes you must prepare. The concept is always the same though: fish and just fish.
Classic dishes served for the feast are fried anchovies and sardines, stuffed clams, seafood salad, pasta with tuna, calamari, mussels and clams in white wine, stuffed squid, and of course, baccala — a favorite of my Italian-born husband.
I might not exactly love the "theme" of this tradition, but I take so much joy in practicing it.
Just as with most Christmas traditions, there is a process to preparing for the feast. We plan our menus months in advance (I wish I were kidding, but alas, I’m not). And as the fish must be fresh, we place our order with our local fish shops a few weeks before Christmas.
In Italy, the tradition of preparing the feast on Christmas Eve lives on and that is evident when you go to the fish shop anytime remotely near Christmas. Lines curve around the block with customers ready to get their orders in. If you want to make your fish for Christmas Eve, it is an absolute must that you get your order in at least two weeks before Christmas.
As with many Christmas memories, the beauty of creating the feast every year is to keep the tradition alive.
While it is a lot of work — cleaning so much fish is no joke — it is all worth it.
As a little girl growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, my mother always celebrated this tradition with our big Italian family, which came over to America from the South of Italy, where I now live with my family.
I love keeping the tradition alive and sharing these experiences with my 3-year-old daughter. Knowing that we are preparing a feast the way our ancestors did makes me so happy. While my daughter is also not the biggest fan of fish, hopefully with the time, she will see that the feast is about so much more than fish.
