Feast of the Seven Fishes Blog | Italian Christmas, Italian Food, Cooking, Recipes and Traditions

The Christmas Tradition in Emilia

Here's a blog entry from my new friend, Alessandro Cagossi, who gives us some insight into Christmas northern Italian-style.

By Alessandro Cagossi

The essence of Christmas Day for all Italians is family and food, “la famiglia e il cibo”. However, in Italy there are twenty regions with twenty different traditions to celebrate Christmas, sometimes similar, sometimes very different. I come from Emilia, a region in northern Italy that is known as “the food valley”. The food tradition includes lasagne, tagliatelle, tortelli, ravioli, prosciutto, parmigiano-reggiano, mortadella and many more.

The holiday tradition starts December 8, with the day dedicated to the devotion of Mary. Many people visit cemeteries praying for lovely ones that passed the way.

December 13th is St. Lucy's Day (“La Festa di Santa Lucia”), with traditional exchange of gifts. In my region, Saint Lucy is the main occasion that makes kids happy, much more than the Epiphany, when a witch named Befana pleases kids with gifts, closing the whole festivity period.

So Christmas is an occasion to reunite the family under huge manger scenes. December 24, Christmas Eve (“La Vigilia di Natale”) is a day of abstinence from meat, so as a first dish we have dumplings with pumpkins (“tortelli di zucca”, I am sure Americans would appreciate them). The second dish consists largely of fish with "Anguilla" a big female eel, roasted, baked or fried and baccalà. These dishes are served with mostarda emiliana, a sort of spicy fruit jelly. We finish with fruit, as a sign of good fortune. After dinner, some attend midnight mass.

December 25, lunch on Christmas Day is a long affair. Delicacies such as cappelletti (a sort of small tortellini) in capon broth, boiled capon, zampone, a pig's foot filled with spiced meat, or cotechino, a sausage made from pig's intestines, are particularly popular in Emilia. Vegetables are dipped with balsamic vinegar. Finally, in my region the Christmas sweets are the "panettone" (cake filled with candied fruit), "torrone" (nougat) and "spongata" a sort of panforte made with hazelnuts, honey and almonds, signs of good fortune.

December 26, Saint Stephen's Day, can be another occasion to share a lunch with family.

During the celebration of the New Year's Day, another tradition is the burning of the Yule log. This is an example of pagan and Christian blending.

Finally, January 6 is the Epiphany (“La Festa dell'Epifania”) the holiday that closes the festivity period. This is the last occasion to have another lunch together.

The Cagossi’s family reunited for a Christmas lunch.

Christmas in Italy

 We talk a lot about how we Italian-American's celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it's much different than how it's celebrated in Italy.

Back in the old country, there's no Santa Claus. Instead, children get their gifts from La Befana, a kind, old witch who brings them toys on January 6 at the Feast of the Epiphany. Here's the legend of La Befana, from About.com:

According to the legend of la Befana, the Three Wise Men stopped at her hut to ask directions on their way to Bethlehem and to invite her to join them. She refused, and later a shepherd asked her to join him in paying respect to the Christ Child. Again she refused, and when night fell she saw a great light in the skies.

La Befana thought perhaps she should have gone with the Three Wise Men, so she gathered some toys that had belonged to her own child, who had died, and ran to find the kings and the shepherd. But la Befana could not find them or the stable. Now, each year she looks    for the Christ Child. Since she can not find him, she leaves gifts for the children of Italy and pieces of coal (nowadays carbone dolce, a rock candy that looks remarkably like coal) for the bad ones.

Christmas in Italy is much more than a two-day event. It's a month-long festival that begins on December 6, for La Festa di San Nicola (The festival of St. Nicholas) and ends on January 6 with La Festa dell-Epifania (The Feast of the Epiphany). Here are all of the key dates during the Italian Christmas holiday:

December 6
La Festa di San Nicola—The festival in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of shepherds, is celebrated in towns such as Pollutri with the lighting of fires under enormous cauldrons, in which fave (broad beans) are cooked, then eaten ceremoniously

December 8
L'Immacolata Concezione—celebration of the Immaculate Conception

December 13
La Festa di Santa Lucia—St. Lucy's Day

December 24
La Vigilia di Natale—Christmas Eve

December 25
Natale—Christmas

December 26
La Festa di Santo Stefano—St. Stephen's Day marks the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men

December 31
La Festa di San Silvestro—New Year's Eve

January 1
Il Capodanno—New Year's Day

January 6
La Festa dell'Epifania—The Epiphany

Fried Smelt

This has got to be a favorite of everyone in my family. It’s simple yet incredibly delicious. It’s definitely a great introduction for kids to seafood as it often starts eating contests as all the children in my family start stuffing their faces. Problem is when the adults get involved.

You will need:
       2-3 pounds of smelt
       Flour 
       Red pepper flakes
       Salt
       Pepper
       Olive oil

How you do it:
       Wash headless smelt and pat dry
       Place a cup of flour and some salt and pepper in a zip-lock bag
       Place smelt in zip-lock bag and shake to coat fish
       Take cast iron skillet and add olive oil and heat, also add red pepper flakes and garlic-if wanted-to taste
       Add fish and cook until brown on both sides
       Once cooked, place fish on paper towel to absorb oil
       EAT!!!

Buon Appetito!
Shannon Tinnell

Traditional Italian Holidays

Unlike the traditional Westernized  Christmas celebration, things are done quite differently across the pond in Italy. Mind you, I have never been to Italy during the holiday season, so I only know what I read. Throughout the Italian holiday season (December and January) there are nine individual days of celebration, where Christmas falls smack dead in the center.

• December 6th:  La Festa di San Nicola - Festival in honor of St Nichola, where giant couldrons are lit to cook fava beans
• December 8th: L'Immacolata Concezione - Celebration of the Immaculate Conception
• December 13th: La Festa di Santa Lucia - St. Lucy's Day
• December 24th: La Vigilia di Natale - Christmas Eve
• December 25th: Christmas Day
• December 26th: La Festa di Santo Stefano - St. Stephen's Day marks the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men
• December 31st: La Festa di San Silvestro - New Year's Eve
• January 1st:  Il Capodanno - New Year's Day
• January 6th: La Festa dell'Epifania - The Epiphany

Man! That sounds like a lot of work. Other than Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve, the only one of those holidays I remeber celebrating as a child was  La Festa di San Nicola. However, we called it St. Nicholas day and instead of eating Fava beans we left our boots outside over night and in the morning they would be filled with candy.

-Mario

NOEL? NO EEL!

I'm crushed.  Preparations for this year's Feast of the Seven Fishes have begun here at the old homestead and I've been voted down on the eel.  The thing is Shannon and I compromise. For the most part I replicate the meal I had at my great-grandmother's as a kid.  She prefers to shake things up, bringing in new - albeit Italian - dishes.  Which is fine.  But this year she nailed me on the eel.  Now it's true the eel had dropped off my family's menu at some point in the fifties or sixties.  But I had resurrected it a few years ago and thought it quite tasty.  Granted it's a little effort to clean and prepare - but worth it.  Last year, for some reason it didn't go over as well.  Now Shannon has teamed up with my father-in-law and my mom to nuke me on eel.  We're going to try something else this year.  I feel like I'm betraying the lowly eel. But what can you do?  At least I still get to have the octopus - which we serve char-grilled on a bed of sea salt drizzled with lemon.  I don't think my great-grandmother ever gave that a shot - but knowing her she'd have loved our approach.  Damn - forgot I'm supposed to be mourning the eel...

Buon Natale,
Robert Tinnell

Feast of the Seven Fishes Video Series # 1

Good tidings!  Our beloved Bob Tinnell filmed one of his family's Feast of the Seven Fishes preparations a few moons ago - documentary style.  After watching the video a few dozen times,  I realized that I probably should get them posted.  Sorry it took so long Bob, but I just couldn't stop watching your uncle Pete cracking those eggs for the Calamari! The video below is the introduction of my grandpa Johnny. Without further ado, here's the first of our traditional Italian home cooking videos. More to come every week.

Viva grandpa Johnny!
Mario M.       

Rocky 6 - The Italian American Idol

My inspiration.  My unquenched motivation to seek perfection.  My single driving force that pushed me further and made me go on.  Through blood, sweat, and tears I knew that I could press on because of this single person.

His strength became my strength.  His pain became my pain.  Every step that he took, I was right there by his side.  I lent my voice when screaming to carry him on when he could barely stand.

His theme song became the unrelenting beat for which my steps would follow.  It plays in an endless loop nuzzling me through trying times.  Who is it that is my Italian American Idol?

The Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa.  I'm not sure if there's a male in America, let alone a Italian American male, who doesn't get excited when "Eye of the Tiger" comes on.  I know I go out and eat nails, spit fire, and head butt large concrete slabs when I hear it.  Rocky 6 comes out in this Christmas season.  That's the only Christmas gift I'm going to need this year.

Viva la Italia!

Mario M.