Here is a series of ideas based on meat, fish and legumes to present during the dinner or lunch. And if you like symbolic ingredients …
There is the advent calendar, but there is also theABC of Italian gastronomy on our tables. And if our culinary tradition proposes, to celebrate the birth of Jesus, a practically endless series of desserts, even savory dishes are not lacking. But before seeing a quick review of the most famous second courses, however, it is also useful to understand the meaning of this tradition.
Christian symbols …
The dinner, diffused from Rome on down, symbolizes the sense of hope for the arrival of the Savior. We don't eat meat because it is a day of fasting: this explains the great abundance of fish on our tables. The Christmas lunch, instead, it finds its reason in the thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus. Symbolic references also abound in foods. Start from eel, similar to the snake, symbol of evil: to eat it means in some way to represent the defeat of evil. While the honey, so present in the struffoli, symbolizes the biblical definition of Jesus as "rock that gives honey". In all of Italy, then, Christmas was the "bread day”, Symbol of the body of Christ: from here they took both the moves panettone that the Pandoro.
… and pagan symbols
References that, in reality, constitute the Christianized version of ancient pagan rites, with December 25 that for the Romans was the feast of Sol invictus. It is said that even the tortellino shape, with his "belly button”, Symbolizes the link between man and earth, of which one wanted to propitiate it fertility. And what are the current superstitious rituals if not the remains of ancient pagan cults and beliefs, existing well before the birth of Christ? In Puglia, for example, among the typical Christmas dishes we find the pettole, leavened dough balls fried in oil. To prepare them you need to follow a precise ritual: they must be kneaded only from midnight to dawn on Christmas Eve, otherwise misfortunes will rain. While frying, the cook must neither drink nor eat, otherwise they will absorb too much oil. From the last pettola, before being thrown in the pan, it will be necessary to remove a piece and throw it in the fireplace reciting a prayer. And woe to praise the frying being done: it will surely fail. Between taste and symbols, here is a list of tasty second courses to prepare for Christmas.
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