Czech carp competes for Christmas-table spot : Mail & Guardian Online
Carp, the traditional Christmas meal in Central Europe, is facing fierce competition this year from newcomers such as salmon and poultry, according to worried Czech producers.

Carp raised in artificial lakes has been the staple of the Czech Christmas Eve evening meal for centuries. (An interesting carryover of the Christian fast into the atheistic present.) Which is why the battle is likely to be not as fierce as reported. What is more intersting, that this story made it into a South African newspaper.

In the Trebon region, production of carp dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries, when monks dug out about 27 000ha of artificial lakes for fish production.

Extracted from the lakes, the fish are usually sold live in large tubs in the run-up to Christmas.

Carp enthusiasts often keep them alive in their baths until Christmas Eve, when they are killed and cooked as the main festive meal. Those with weaker constitutions have them killed on site before taking them away.