# Seven fishes



## lipyanker (May 31, 2006)

If anyone out there is doing it, I would enjoy hearing your feast of the seven fishes menu.


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Any chance you could "edumacate" us on what this is?


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## fingersandclaws (Oct 17, 2005)

*I Googled It*

Italian Christmas Eve : Feast of the Seven Fishes


Italians share a tradition of only eating fish on Christmas Eve. Here's a look at one family's menu.
Christmas, oppure (or) Festa Di Natale, begins with la vigilia a feast on Chrsitmas Eve (the vigil). This consists solely of fish dishes and pasta. Of course you end la vigila in time for Midnight Mass.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes
Intriguing is the fact that you must have on the table seven fish selections. Why seven? Seven is a very important number. It stands for the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. The seven days of creation. In Biblical numerology, seven is a number of perfection. There is no set menu for this feast. In the casa della famiglia Laurita the dishes were traditionally:


Calamari (squid)
Scungilli [skuhn-GEE-lee] (conch)
Baccalà [bah-kah-LAH] (dry, salt cod)
Shrimp
Clams served with pasta
Mussels
Some type of big fish ususally a snapper, sea trout, tuna, or salmon


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Thanks Yul ... that was a great explanation. Very interesting concept.

I did not have the 1 feast of the seven fishes ... but I did have 7 feasts of the one fish 

(sorry ... couldn't resist that one)


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