Christmas time always make me think of the traditions we have as a family, traditions created by past generations or perhaps something that you have started in your own family... do you have certain traditions at Christmas time?
For many years now, our family have Prawns on Christmas Eve...we love all seafood...and so my husband will go to the fresh fish market and buy the largest prawns he can, fresh from the sea...he'll stand in the kitchen cleaning the prawns (which take hours!) leaving the heads on, and sometimes the girls will help him too...in recent years our son helps him. The prawns are usually barbequed or put in the oven for literally a few minutes until pink and plump. Served with plain basmati rice, garlic and lemon butter and a peri peri sauce the prawns makes for a real feast with a simple green salad.
Although eating seafood is not limited to Christmas time, our family really love this tradition and can't wait to get stuck into pulling the heads of the prawns and devouring those plump delicacies....piles of shiny pink shell piled high on a plate with contented shiny faces all round make for a happy tradition!
Eating a meatless dish on Christmas Eve is also shared by the Italians from the South of Italy, when they celebrate the Feast of the Seven Fishes, also known as The Vigil...seven different seafood dishes are eaten at the meal. This celebration is to commemorate Vigilia de Natalia, for the midnight birth of Jesus. This tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve goes back to the Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat and dairy products on a Fridays and specific holy days..(a bit of a history lesson here!)
The wonderful thing is, we never know when something we start doing with our family become the traditions of future generations.
until next time
