Traditions

from Concettina Died and Other Stories of the East Side

Immigration Laws?

As the holiday season approaches, I start to reminisce about my childhood and how my parents celebrated the important fall and winter holidays. Although we always celebrated Thanksgiving, for Mama and Papa, who came to the United States from Italy, where no such holiday existed, it was more of a festive day for family gathering and huge meals simply because they could do it. The Pilgrims were not a part of the festivities. Turkey was not a common food in southern Italy and Mama had no intention of roasting such an animal. Instead, we had pasta with meat sauce, followed by roasted capons, oven-roasted potatoes, salad, and then fruit and nuts. When my sister Martha got married, the Thanksgiving holiday moved to her home, where, thanks to her sister-in-law’s recipes, we were introduced to turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes (buttered and covered with brown sugar and marshmallows!) and a wonderful new dessert, pumpkin pie! Eventually, the festivities moved to our home, where the “American” traditional foods continued to be served. In recent years we have been celebrating at our daughter and son-in-law’s home in Atlanta. Stephanie, who inherited Aunt Martha’s and her mother’s cooking and baking skills, and Joe, who rapidly embraced our familial traditions, never disappoint as hosts.

Christmas for my parents was a different story from Thanksgiving. In Italy, the Nativity was celebrated by building a large crèche, surrounded by a village, filling a stocking with fruit and nuts and having wonderful elborate meals on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. Our family continued those traditions in America, except the crèche was smaller and a Christmas tree was added. Christmas Eve dinner was meatless; Mama made fish soup made with whiting (merlutzi in Italian), fried calamari, tiny sardines which were fried weeks before and then pickled in vinegar, parsley and garlic, and broiled eel (capitone) topped with olive oil and bay leaves. Fritti—pockets of Mama’s homemade dough

stuffed with mozzarella cheese mixed with beaten eggs, parsley and grated Parmesan, or stuffed with a mixture of onion and tomatoes laced with Italian herbs—were gently fried, then served with orange salad and a mixed green salad. We all waited anxiously for Mama to bring out the taralli, her wonderful crispy, wine and fennel flavored bread sticks shaped like pretzels, boiled and then baked until they were golden brown. These we ate with salad, fennel celery, or chunks of provolone cheese, and we also dunked them in wine. Fortunately, the recipe was passed down to my sisters, and eventually to me. I still make them to this day.

With slight variations, Marie and I have continued the Christmas Eve tradition, serving fish soup, or calamari sauce over spaghetti, Mama’s recipe for “fritti,” substituting shrimp scampi for eel, and baked fish instead of pickled sardines. Taralli, orange salad, friut and nuts are still part of the feast, followed by trays of delectable cookies from old recipes passed down from Martha, sweet taralli from Marie’s mother (and Marie’s favorites), and Peach Melba, which over the years has also become traditional. Mama and Papa are gone, as are sisters Martha and Palma, and many other loved members of our families. But the traditions of these holidays are still with us, and every year as we celebrate the actual holidays, we also celebrate the wonderful memories associated with these traditions.