Christmas Eve in an Italian family is the feast of the seven fishes, which means the Christmas Eve meal is all about the fish! It is a tradition for Italian cooks to serve seven different types of fish. In Italian, the meal is known as La Vigilia, or Feast of the Seven Fishes, and it is one of Italy’s most famous traditions. No one knows for sure the significance for offering seven fishes, although there are numerous explanations for it. Some believe that seven fishes are served because it took God seven days to create the world, while others mention the Seven Hills of Rome. There is also the possibility that the seven fishes symbolize the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church, along with the seven sins. Today, the number of fishes served varies. Although seven remains the historical number. So..that being said my family, since we are Italian, tries to stick to this tradition of "fish". We do not however make 7 different kinds of fish. We make three: fried shrimp, fried calamari and fried smelt. I have included our entire Christmas Eve menu (our family is now actually too big so we do not actually celebrate this party on Christmas Eve...rather the saturday before) for you on this post. Our menu does not falter, does not stray...it is strictly the same every year! A tradition my Grandmother & Grandfather started way back when. We tried to honor them every year by keeping up the italian tradition!
