The Feast of the Seven Fishes

_{Image above: Bay Scallops with Pumpkin Ravioli, Sage and Browned Butter, as part of a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. Photo by GW Fins on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribtion 2.0 Generic.}

The Feast of the Seven Fishes - known in Italian as "festa dei sette pesci" - is a tradition celebrated on Christmas Eve. It is also referred to as The Vigil or "La Vigilia" but is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy today despite its origins being claimed as Southern Italy. It is a celebration of the wait for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus, and is typically marked by an elaborate meal consisting of seven different seafood dishes. It can also consist of a lesser number of dishes as long as 7 different fish are used throughout - for instance in a fish soup or mixed seafood pasta.

The importance of the number 7 in the Feast is that it is believed to relate to the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as being a biblical number of perfection. Other families, however, celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 seafood dishes or fishes, marking other numbers of biblical significance. However 7 is the most popular and well-known number.

One theory supposes that the Feast actually originated with the first Italian immigrants to America. While it has long been Italian tradition to dine Christmas Eve with a meat-free meal, immigrants wanted to celebrate the bounty and prosperity of the New World with a more elaborate dinner showcasing the seafood bounty they could now afford and enjoy. Hence, a simple meal of salt cod or other inexpensive fish became a multicourse meals affair showcasing a variety of seafood: clams, octopus, flounder, shrimp, lobster, crab and more. A mixed seafood salad, fried smelts, stuffed calamari, pasta with shellfish, marinated eel...these are just some of the dishes popular traditionally for the Feast.

_{Image: Cioppino with Salmon, Shrimp, Mussels, Clams, Bacalao, Tomato Lobster broth from a Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner. Photo by GW Fins on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.}

Thinking about preparing a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner yourself? These collections of Italian seafood recipes are sure to provide you with some wonderful inspiration and ideas!