For centuries, families throughout much of central Europe have relied
on one simple main course for Christmas Eve dinner: the common carp.
But getting from river (or carp farm) to table is not so simple. As the tradition goes, the Christmas carp must first swim in the family bathtub for at least a day or two before being killed, cleaned and prepared.
I grew up in Maine and Massachusetts and, I will admit — back before my mom decided she couldn't bear dropping a live lobster into a boiling pot — there was more than one occasion in which my siblings and I took the crustaceans out of the bag and attempted to race them across the kitchen floor before they became dinner.
But in Slovakia — and other nearby nations, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Croatia — the fish actually live in the bathtub for days. Kids name them. People can't bathe.
"In my childhood, I remember thinking 'poor carp,' " Bratislava resident Mima Halokova tells me. Others admit to actually letting the fish go free, unable to go through with their plans to transform it into dinner.
Carp are bottom feeders. The idea is that a few days swimming in clean water helps to flush mud from the fish's digestive tract. (It would actually take a lot longer than that for this trick to work, fisheries scientist Patrick Cooney tells us. He's tried it.) Some note that the tub time was a practical way to store fresh fish before refrigerators became common.
Bathtub carp is one of several traditions tied to Christmas Eve — a day that is the centerpiece of holiday celebrations for Slovaks and some others in central Europe. It is also the day, children are told, when baby Jesus brings a Christmas tree. (This requires some elaborate subterfuge from parents, who must hide and decorate the tree behind closed doors.) Later in the day, the little ones get their gifts.
Read In Slovakia, Christmas Dinner Starts In The Bathtub : The Salt : NPR
But getting from river (or carp farm) to table is not so simple. As the tradition goes, the Christmas carp must first swim in the family bathtub for at least a day or two before being killed, cleaned and prepared.
I grew up in Maine and Massachusetts and, I will admit — back before my mom decided she couldn't bear dropping a live lobster into a boiling pot — there was more than one occasion in which my siblings and I took the crustaceans out of the bag and attempted to race them across the kitchen floor before they became dinner.
But in Slovakia — and other nearby nations, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Croatia — the fish actually live in the bathtub for days. Kids name them. People can't bathe.
"In my childhood, I remember thinking 'poor carp,' " Bratislava resident Mima Halokova tells me. Others admit to actually letting the fish go free, unable to go through with their plans to transform it into dinner.
Carp are bottom feeders. The idea is that a few days swimming in clean water helps to flush mud from the fish's digestive tract. (It would actually take a lot longer than that for this trick to work, fisheries scientist Patrick Cooney tells us. He's tried it.) Some note that the tub time was a practical way to store fresh fish before refrigerators became common.
Bathtub carp is one of several traditions tied to Christmas Eve — a day that is the centerpiece of holiday celebrations for Slovaks and some others in central Europe. It is also the day, children are told, when baby Jesus brings a Christmas tree. (This requires some elaborate subterfuge from parents, who must hide and decorate the tree behind closed doors.) Later in the day, the little ones get their gifts.
Read In Slovakia, Christmas Dinner Starts In The Bathtub : The Salt : NPR
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