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!
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!
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Lilith Cherry
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.
Originally Posted by Lilith Cherry
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