Some believe the Very Traditional Christmas Eve "Feast of Seven Fishes" represent 7 Sacraments, others, 7 Hills of Rome, 7 Days of Week, 7 Deadly Sins, and even
7 Stars of the Big Dipper.

The menu has never been strictly prescribed, and in some areas of Italy, contain 9, 11, or even 13 items, including shrimp, smelt, baccala, salted cod, lobster, calamari, mussels, clams, haddock, anchovies, and eel, which has its strongest adherents and detractors. :)
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ITALIAN SEAFOOD FEAST SERVES UP MIX OF TRADITION, CHANGE
Boston Globe
By Christine MacDonald,
Globe Correspondent,
December 25, 2003

Long before dawn yesterday, Italian-Americans crowded into the Yankee Lobster and Fish Market to pore over shrimp, smelt, and other staples of the traditional Feast of Seven Fishes.

Christmas Eve is the busiest day of the year for the market, a sign to owner Joseph Zanti that the Italian tradition is thriving through generations and changes in family menus.

It's a tradition that connects Italian-Americans to their roots, Zanti said.

"My grandmother did it. My mother did it, and now I'm doing it," said Zanti, who was expecting dozens of relatives and friends for a seafood feast at his North Reading home last night.

Pamela Console, an administrative assistant from Winthrop who lined up at the Northern Avenue market while it was still dark, said she had fond memories of her East Boston childhood dining on Christmas Eve on an array of seafood. After the meal, her family would exchange gifts and then head off to midnight Mass.

She still serves a fish meal on Christmas Eve, but now it's just shrimp, lobster, and haddock for her husband and 15-year-old daughter.

"There are only three of us, so we couldn't possibly eat seven fish dishes," said Console.

While the actual origin of the tradition is not clear, most theories center on the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church and the seven hills of Rome. And the tradition follows the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat the night before a feast day, according to the National Italian American Foundation.

For many at the Yankee market yesterday, the theological origins were elusive.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who made his annual trek to the market in South Boston by 5:30 a.m., said he cherishes the tradition, but knows only that his grandfather said the seven fishes represent the days of the week.

"That's what my grandfather told me when I was a kid," Menino said. "I never questioned my grandfather."

A fellow predawn shopper said he didn't know why Italians serve an array of calamari, mussels, clams, baccala, shrimp, and other seafood specialties.

"Nobody seems to know the answer," said John Miele, 57, a lawyer from Medford. "I just assumed it was for the seven sacraments."

"Or the seven deadly sins," added Console.

"Or the seven stars of the big dipper," mused Miele.

Not all Italians traditionally eat seven fish dishes. In some regions, they eat nine, 11, or 13 different types of seafood the night before Christmas Eve. But in Southern Italy, the region where many Massachusetts residents trace their ancestry, the customary number is seven, according to the foundation.

Despite trends toward smaller families, marrying non-Italians, and changing tastes, the throng at the Yankee and other fish markets yesterday offered evidence of a thriving tradition in Boston.

Italians still comprise the state's second largest ethnic group after residents of Irish descent -- about one in 10 Massachusetts residents. The proportion of residents who claim Italian descent is diminishing, however, according to census figures, largely because Italian immigration peaked about a century ago.

Vincent Fazzolari immigrated from Italy at age 9 and still looks forward to the feast on Christmas Eve, especially the baccala, salted cod served in salads or tomato sauce. For Fazzolari, who teaches Italian at East Boston High School, it is a reminder of his earliest Christmas memories.

Now that he is married to a Chicago native who does not eat fish, Fazzolari said he laments that his wife does not share is enthusiasm for baccala. Fazzolari said the couple is expecting their first baby, and he is hoping to pass along the tradition.

The menu for the Feast of Seven Fishes has never been strictly prescribed, but it has evolved through generations -- from eel and smelt to lobster and shrimp.

Zanti has noticed other changes.

"More people today are looking for prepared food, lobster meat, fish plates," said Zanti, who also prepares a ready-to-serve "Italian Feast" for sale this time of year.

He still sells octopus and smelt -- two traditional vigilia favorites. But, eel, baccala, and traditional pasta in anchovy garlic sauce are losing their allure as Italian immigrants pass away and their children intermarry.

Yankee no longer stocks live eel, Zanti said. His competitor Al Hook, owner of James Hook & Co., in Boston, said he sells eel, but demand has dropped off.

"Ten or 15 years ago we'd sell 400 pounds of eel to the old-timers -- the old Italians, who knew how to cook it," Hook said. "The tradition isn't what it used to be."

But eel is still a strong seller at Frank Giuffre & Son in the North End, said Joe Giuffre, whose great-grandfather opened the shop in the North End in 1903. Giuffre said he expected to sell 300 pounds of eel before closing last night.

The fresh eel was what drew Francine Koris to Giuffre's shop before 9 a.m. yesterday from her Brookline home.

Koris said that finding the fresh eel that her 92-year-old aunt looks forward to each year has become increasingly difficult.

"A couple of years ago, I could not find it anywhere," said Koris, as Giuffre slammed a foot-long black eel head first on his cutting block, chopped off its head and removed the internal organs.

That holiday turned into a fiasco, she said. "I called every store I could think of," before finding a market in Canton with one huge eel left.

The Canton fishmonger refused to cut off the eel's head, leaving Koris and her aunt to behead and gut the creature at home.

"It was awful. My aunt couldn't even eat it," she recalled.

Koris said she does not eat eel, but makes the effort to buy it because it's so important to her aunt. "She is not happy unless she eats eel on Christmas Eve," said Koris.

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