Every region (or even every town!) has its own customs, but if there’s one tradition that everyone in Italy can agree on, it’s not eating meat on Christmas Eve. December 24 is the time for fish or cheese dishes to shine.
But why is Christmas Eve only for fish? Although the origins of this tradition are often said to come from the Gospel and sacred texts, according to which abstaining from meat is a form of respect for the birth of Jesus (as well as for his death at Easter), in reality it is quite different. Avoiding meat the day before Christmas is above all a popular custom.
While it’s true that in 1917 the Codex Iuris Canonici had actually prescribed abstinence from meat and fasting on the eve of the Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints’ Day and Christmas, the Costituzione Apostolica Paenitemini signed in February 1966 by Paul VI overwrote these indications and established that fasting was only necessary on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence from meat every Friday of the year, but no longer on Christmas Eve.
However, the Catholic Church also established many exceptions: only those from 18 to 60 years old are to fast (avoiding meat, on the other hand, begins at the age of 14). And to be precise, on the established days, in addition to meat, foods or beverages that “with prudent judgment are to be considered as particularly sought after or expensive” are also forbidden. This is why the idea of falling back on fish as a more austere alternative to meat seems a bit odd since seafood dishes with crustaceans, clams and mussels are equally, if not even more, sumptuous and rich.