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View Full Version : La Vigilia - a lesson in Tradition



Freedom
12-24-2010, 08:23 PM
La Vigilia means "The Vigil." Christmas Eve, waiting for Jesus' birth. In Southern Italy and Sicily, traditionally we have the Feast of the Seven Fishes, that night, and then go to midnight Mass to celebrate the birth. The feast commemorates the wait. In the Roman Catholic religion, you abstain from eating meat on certain Fridays, and on specific Holy Days. This does not mean you must eat fish! Remember that all these traditions started in fishing communities.

There is no agreement on why the number '7.' Opinions include: the 7 Sacraments, the 7 Hills of Rome, or the traditional Biblical number for the trinity is 3, and for Earth is 4, so Jesus on Earth is 3 + 4 = 7. Who knows? There may be other explanations.

Growing up, my grandparents (Dad's folks) always made octopus, eel, and baccala (dried salt cod). My Mum, who was English, couldn't stand the smell of the eel (or maybe it was the octopus?) So all the family would gather and eat that course, and then Dad would bring all of us over for the rest of the meal. By this point, all the windows in the house were open to air out "the smell" for my Mum, ha haaa! Hence, we never really learned to "appreciate" the eel or the octopus.

My Mum always made baked stuff butterfly shrimp, the extra JUMBO ones, lol. She would prepare 2 for each person, "And three for Uncle Joe!" He he hee.

In the recent past, I have often prepared the 7 fishes for us - Dad, bro and I. But sometimes it just gets too much! I will buy the bacon wrapped scallops, also bacon wrapped shrimp, have crackers with a crab dip, make Mum's butterfly shrimp, etc. No eel, no octopus, no baccala (which Dad likes and misses). And calamari - squid - only I like that so I don't make it on the Feast of 7 Fishes for the 3 of us. I get it plenty all year round though.

"The components to the meal are similar for most families as there are always some combination of anchovies, sardines, dried salt cod, smelts, eels, squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels, and clams. In the mixes are pastas, vegetables, baked or fried kale patties, baked goods, and homemade wine. " My Nonno made the homemade wine. Towards the end of his life, he didn't make it any longer, and so everyone got a VERY SMALL SIP, to be sure there was some for the following years. We always had big pans of lasagne as well.

So this year, I felt I deserve a holiday meal as well; so we went out for the Feast. What a wonderful meal we had!

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2010/Nov%2026%20Christmas%20pics%202010/Christmas2010002Small.jpg

Then we went to the local light display and now we are home. We don't do midnight mass as it is "too late" for Dad and me too! Guess I am getting old!

Lilith Cherry
12-25-2010, 01:17 AM
Sounds wonderful Sandie! I love fish and my husband is allergic so I don't get it very often.

Do you follow any of your Mum's traditions too and make any English food?

I make traditional English foods for Christmas such as sherry trifle and Christmas puddings and we mix it all in with traditional Chinese festive foods made by my lovely daughter in law!

Have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas..:love:

Freedom
12-25-2010, 08:46 AM
Funny you should ask!

When mum and dad were married, they lived with Dad's folks for 2 years before buying their home. (I came along 2 years after that.) As all Mum's family were in England, all our holidays were spent with the Sicilian side of the family. So those became "our" holiday traditions.

Mum made sherry trifle, bubble & squeak, Yorkshire pudding, and we'd have the Christmas pudding, the one you put brandy on and light it? at home a week or so later. Of course a week after Christmas is New Year's and we were back w/ Dad's side, so we often didn't get the English foods until later in January, lol.

I don't make any of them regularly. :( Mum was one to shoo everyone out of the kitchen when she was cooking. So I never learned those. I learned the Sicilian foods spending time w/ my Nonna and Nonno, and with my Godmother.

A few years back I DID order an English fruitcake - they are NOTHING like what you find here in the States. They take 4 to 6 months to make as each step soaks in brandy for a month! LOL And it is topped with marzipan icing, YUMMY! We all enjoyed it very much!

Karen
12-25-2010, 11:46 AM
Thanks for sharing this with us, I love learning different from traditions!

wombat2u2004
12-25-2010, 07:14 PM
I love fish and my husband is allergic so I don't get it very often.

Me to. My wife and daughter will not eat seafood,,,they just don't like it.
So I have to miss out :confused:
But, I can dream about Sandi's menu, and drool accordingly. :D

cassiesmom
12-27-2010, 12:45 PM
Wow, shrimp filled with crabmeat... sounds delicious!

Czech people eat cod on Christmas Eve because they don't eat a lot of fish through the year since the country is landlocked. That's one tradition my mom has broken with! She and my dad eat fish throughout the year, especially in the summer when they can cook it on the grill. My dad likes swordfish, but he doesn't eat it because it's high in mercury. And my Polish grandma used to eat pickled herring on New Year's Day for a good year. My dad and my brother like it, but I don't. I've read that Japanese people eat soba noodles on New Year's Day to bring the new year good luck- I can handle that!

Freedom
12-27-2010, 01:22 PM
He hee, Elyse, Dad, bro and I all got the bake stuffed shrimp!