Karp

The story

Before the refrigerator became standard household equipment, Poles solved the problem of fresh fish for Wigilia in an unusual but practical way: they bought a live carp several days ahead and kept it in the bathtub until the evening it was to be cooked, turning the whole bathroom into an aquarium for a little while. The custom, which became especially widespread after the Second World War, is gradually disappearing today — a CBOS survey found that about 59% of Poles support a ban on the sale of live carp on animal-welfare grounds, so carp is more and more often bought ready to cook. The fish itself is served breaded and fried, baked, or in aspic, and folk belief holds that its scales bring financial luck if kept in a wallet all year. For many Polish families in America, carp is one of the hardest traditions to carry over unchanged; the fish simply isn't easy to find in the same form, so a common compromise is another white fish, with the rest of the ritual kept intact.