Talk:Feast of the Seven Fishes

Comment
There's no way a list of dishes for the Vigilia can approach completeness, every family does it a little differently (my family has a salad of Calamari, Scungilli & Shrimp with chopped Celery in a sauce of Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Garlic & Olives, followed by Stuffed Clams, Linguine with Lobster Tails, Eels in Tomato & Fig Sauce, and a Roast Fish dish); is there a typical menu from Napoli or Sicilia that could be given in place of the list of dishes? Freddiefreelance (talk) 20:41, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Explanation of Number Variation?
Something that might be worth adding to the main page, after being re-written to be neutral point of view...

A Christmas tradition, Feast of the Fishes, is practiced in coastal Italian towns. There, the Christmas Eve dinner consists of a seven-course fish dinner. Why seven? Seven represents the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. Other variations include a 12-course fish dinner (to represent Jesus and the Apostles, minus Judas) or even 13 courses (Judas gets to join in on this version).

Source:

http://www.jacksonville.com/lifestyles/food/2008-12-17/christmas_in_florida_means_a_seafood_dinner

99.236.146.16 (talk) 23:11, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

I believe you should write off the "seven fishes dinner" from having anything to do with italian traditions. This is something I have never heard about in my 63 years of life in Italy, travelling all over the country and enjoying local traditions and food. It is probably something that was born in the US and that, somehow, ended up being accepted as an italian tradition, just like "spaghetti and meat balls", something you will never find on an italian menu. Vincenzo Fortunati —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.53.123.207 (talk) 17:17, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Tradition and symbolism
I don't mean to offend, but the association with Christianity seems a little forced sometimes. Especialy since there are many Catholic countries and regions that don't have such a tradition of fishes for Xmas Eve. Anyone know if there is pagan origins to this? Maybe seven has to do with a "Feast for Neptune" or something?

There is no such feast like that. remember Jesus has often been associated with the fish plus Italy is a maritime nation. Even the other island nations have enough farmland to supply there needs. Italy is more rocky so fish supplimented the normal diet. Also pre-Vatican II you were not allowed to eat meat on fridays, Christmas and Easter. SO its not impossible that these combination of factors resulted in the feast. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nemo1986 (talk • contribs) 19:43, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

United States
Should be noted that this feast is very popular among Italian descended people in the US. 72.209.63.226 (talk) 00:20, 19 December 2010 (UTC) this is a very special pagan tradition — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.74.221.198 (talk) 20:35, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Italian-American only
This celebration is an Italian American tradition, in Italy don't exist at all.2.229.51.18 (talk) 08:48, 27 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I can confirm it! Its is an Italian-American custom, not an Italian one. This article explains it well. --Jaqen (talk) 21:51, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

"Baked clownfish" removed as a likely joke
Under the list of possible fish dishes for this feast, someone had listed "baked clownfish." This is presumably a joke as no culture is known to eat the diminutive clownfish; as such, I have removed the reference. -Alex Moir — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.132.58.24 (talk) 04:37, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Green Book
Another beautiful example in film of this Italian-American tradition can be seen in the final scene of Green Book when Tony returns home on a snowy Christmas Eve to his family. Psudaddy (talk) 21:59, 13 March 2021 (UTC)