Italian Food (=v=)9

I am never very consistent with updates on anything, so I apologize, but hiatuses are still likely to occur; however, it would not really be right to simply skip over Christmas and new years because they are large components in many societies…

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Typical Italian food traditions around Advent, Christmas, and the Epiphany (at least in my family) are as follows:

The two big meals, though Italian meals can be quite large all the time, are Christmas Eve and Day.

Christmas Eve: Multiple courses with lots of food.
Antipasto with tuna before the meal; Shellfish such as lobster, shrimp, scallops, and clams; Perhaps another fish such as salmon or cod; multiple types of pasta with different sauces such as red sauce without meat, alfredo sauce, clam sauce, etc.; fried vegtables and fruits; and cookies or cakes for dessert.

Christmas Day: Multiple courses with lots of food.
A different antipasto before the meal, typically with prosciutto; meats such as ham, turkey, or duck; even more pasta dishes of all varieties, this time including meats; more fried food; dessert; and maybe even leftovers from the night before!

Later meals on the Epiphany and such are a bit less diverse variations of the two, but generally, it's tradition to not eat meats aside from fish and shellfish on Fridays, even if it is not required by the Catholic liturgical season.