From southern Italy comes a Christmas Eve custom: the feast of the seven fishes. I like to imagine seven fish feasting, something a little different. Seven is said to be a lucky number but not if you are number seven on a dinner plate. As a small child in coastal Massachusetts, I would walk beside my parents along the slatted wooden piers past the lobster troughs where diners at ocean-front restaurants could select their personal dinner. They admonished me not to touch because they lobsters snapped. I remember thinking that I would, too, if I were about to be boiled alive like some unfortunate creature in a Grimm fairy tale . But I'm not. I'm a vegetarian. "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly..."
P.S. The Dedham Pottery is still in operation just south of Boston, not far inland from the Atlantic.
Image:
1.Marthe Picaret - Manger Moins de Viande, Australian War Memorial website.
2. Dedham Pottery - crackle-glaze lobster plate, c. 1869-1929, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
4 comments:
Jane, I did not found your e-mail, so I send you here best whishes for next year.
Thank you for hold on this treasure-blog.
Eduardo
Customs spread, presumably with migrants and tourists. You have a Christmas Eve custom from southern Italy, with a book written in French, translating itself into Boston society. I love it :)
Have a healthy, happy new year :)
Happy New Year to you,Eduardo. Rest assured I'm working ideas for the coming year right now.
Thank you, Hels. And let's add a nod to Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II for writing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and all of "Showboat."
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