November 30 in Viterbo

On Sundays after the 11:30am mass at Sacra Famiglia we often stop by a pasticceria outside the walls to get a treat and sit.  All over Viterbo I have noticed chocolate fish wrapped up in different colors of foil.  So bakeries sell chocolate fish, okay, I think.  A little different, but that's fine.  Maybe fish are special to them.

Last Sunday we walk into the pasticerria.  The boy there, maybe 17 or 18 or if not, certainly younger, recognizes us and takes the order of Hannah and Mary, the only ones ready.  I see not only the stacks of red and green and blue fish, but people actually buying the fish.  I ask this sweet Italian teenager, What's going on with the fish?

Parents buy a fish for each child and put it in the child's room for November 30, the feast of St. Andrew.  Each color foil tells you whether the chocolate inside is white, milk, or fondente.  Aha!  Now I know why the question of latte or fondente was going around on the WhatsApp group for Hannah's class.  I answered the Hannah preferred milk chocolate, but I didn't know why I was saying so.  I just tried to answer the question.

Daniel and kids left Rome tonight to make it back for school tomorrow.  Tonight on the phone I reminded Daniel, Put out the fish for the morning!

We might have missed Halloween, but we've got the Feast of Saint Andrew in Viterbo.