Countdown to Christmas - Italian Style! December 23

photo courtesy felt.co.nz

We are ALMOST to the end! Welcome back for Countdown to Christmas- Italian Style Day 23 (ventitre).

Everyone I know, including myself, was running around today shopping for all the ingredients they need to make the traditional Cenone della Vigilia or Christmas Eve dinner.

The word Cenone means big dinner in Italian, and is usually used when referring to the Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve feast. The Christmas Eve meal is also commonly called the Feast of Seven Fishes, because during this meal you would eat seven different types of fish or shellfish. They can be seven different courses, or seven fishes spread out over several courses, as seven different fishes are used during the meal.

The reason we eat seven different fishes or seven fish courses is because seven is the number that is repeated most often in the Bible. There is the Seven deadly sins, the seven sacrements, it took seven days for Joseph and Mary to reach Bethlehem, it took 7 days for the creation. I know you can think of even more examples of seven - the seven hills of Rome, seven wonders of the world. Essentially, the feast of seven fishes can refer to just about anything referencing seven and you are good to go.

Fish was traditionally eaten to purify the body and prepare for the big feast that is to come on Christmas Day.  In Italy, the next few days are huge eating events. We have not only the Cenone on Christmas Eve, then there is another big meal on Christmas Day, followed by Santo Stefano Day on December 26 and even more eating.

The Rialto fish market was packed this morning as locals purchased all the fish and shellfish they would need for the coming days.While the dishes served may vary from region to region throughout Italy,   eel , usually grilled or fried, is the one dish you will find in common whether you are in the North or way down South in the boot.

                                                                   At the Rialto Fish Market

In the Venice area, most likely you will find Bacala (made from Salt Cod), Sarde and saor (fried sardines marinated in onions), clams, mussels, octopus salad, mixed fried fish, shrimp, and whole baked or grilled fish.  For a pasta course, it will typically be spaghetti with vongole (clams).

Here's a sample of our Feast of Seven Fishes from last year. Tomorrow we're not going to have so many courses, it might have to be renamed the Feast of Three Fishes at our house!

Mussels

Sardines ready to be breaded and fried

Spaghetti al Mare (mixed seafood)

Baby soft shelled crabs (moeche) at Rialto Market

Moeche, fried ready to eat

Topping off this enormous feast would be the favorite holiday sweet treats,  panettone and pandoro.

                                       Buon Natale!

Countdown to Christmas- Italian Style! December 14

photo courtesy cupcakeswithsprinkles.blogspot.com


Day 14 (quattordici)!!!

I love the Advent calendar I selected for today. Which has been your favorite calendar so far?  And which has been your favorite Countdown blog?  I have my own personal choices, but I would love to hear yours! Please leave your comments for me. I can't wait to read them.

I'm sharing holiday lights at the Rialto with you today. These are one of my very favorite things about December in Venice. I think we anticipate the days when we see the lights have been strung  in the calles (little streets) between St. Marks and  the Rialto bridge, and on the bridge. It's an absolutely spectacular sight.

The Rialto bridge lit with holiday lights make this very special place even more special. 

At the middle of the bridge you'll find the winged lion, symbol of Venice, in lights. 

Auguri is the Italian word for Best Wishes.  It's used for occasions when you want to congratulate someone, such as after the birth of a baby, or a birthday or graduation.  It is also used during Christmas and New Years.  This particular sign is above a shop in Campo San Bartolomeo, near the bottom of the Rialto bridge.

As you can tell from these photos, Venice is definitely getting ready for the holidays.  Are you?

Buon Natale!

La Befana comes tomorrow

The Befana comes by night

With her shoes all tattered and torn

She comes dressed in the Roman way

Long live the Befana!

Tomorrow, January 6, is the day of Epiphany, a Christian religious celebration in honor of the day the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem to visit the baby Jesus.  In Italy, the celebration involves a witch, La Befana, who flies on her broom on the night of January 5 to deliver candies to all good children, or coal to the bad ones!

In olden days, Italian children didn't get gifts on Christmas from Santa, only candies on January 6 from La Befana.  In more recent times, Santa (Babbo Natale) delivers presents to Italian children too. Lucky Italian kids!

January 6 is also marks the end of the Christmas/New Year's holidays. It's a long two weeks of almost non-stop eating, starting with Christmas eve, then Christmas day, then Santo Stefano day on December 26.  There's a little break, but it seems we're still stuffing ourselves on traditional sweets of panettone or pandoro until New Year's eve.  On that night, you eat a  huge meal,  cenone consisting of many, sometimes up to 15, different courses of food.  And, again on New Year's day there is more food,  when families eat a traditional meal of lentils and cotechino, similar to a sausage. Lentils supposedly bring good luck or good fortune in the new year, so of course, you cannot miss eating those.  Christmas trees and decorations stay up until January 6.

In other Italian cities, there is a huge bonfire on the night of January 5 to celebrate the arrival of La Befana. In Venice, things are handled a bit differently.  Tomorrow morning at 10 am there will be a regatta in the Grand Canal starting at San Toma and ending at the Rialto bridge. Rowers will all be dressed as Befanas, with shawls, dresses, hats and wigs.  At the end of the race, there will be mulled wine, hot chocolate and candies for all.

Get your cameras ready tomorrow morning, find a spot along the Grand Canal near Rialto. I'll meet you there!

A sad day in Venice

In my last post, I commented on the run of interesting, strange, odd, wacky, weird, almost unthinkable things that have taken place in Venice thus far this summer. Things were definitely going downhill, but today, things just fell off the cliff. Bad went to worse in a hurry this morning with the  news of a tragic accident on the Grand Canal just before noon.

Amidst all the usual traffic at the Rialto bridge, a vaporetto knocked into a gondola, sending a German family of five- mother, father and 3 children-  into the canal. The father unfortunately died at the hospital shortly afterward, having taken in large quantities of water. The small daughter suffered from a serious wound above her eye and was taken to the hospital in Padua for surgery. A tragic day for this vacationing family.


   (photo courtesy La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre)

I'm almost without words.

But believe me, there will be words today, tomorrow, in the near future as blame is bandied about by the police department conducting the investigation, the city government, you name it, everyone will have something to say. We'll talk about all that in the days to come.

Today, a life was lost, a young child seriously injured, a family forever changed, and I suspect one gondolier and one vaporetto captain will suffer nightmares for the rest of their lives. Words won't change those facts.

As small consolation, I strongly believe when your time has come, it's come. While I wish there were a way this day could be rewound and played over, with a different outcome, that isn't possible. We have to deal with the reality as it is.  As thoughts of this tragic event went round and round in my head all afternoon,  I was reminded of a similar event. A few years ago on vacation in the Dominican Republic, while attending the evening entertainment at the resort, we were all up on the dance floor doing the merengue, having a fantastic time.  Not far from me a woman slumped to the floor. The emergency doctor was called, everyone was in a panic. The woman passed away instantly due to a massive heart attack. Just like that, she was gone. Dancing one minute, dead the next. Her family made a statement shortly after the frightening incident- that their mother was having the time of her life, doing exactly what she would have wanted to do- dance.

I want to not forget that life is for living. Let's remind ourselves to get up and dance every day.

I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the family.