In December 2024, seasonal fish sales opened at Košinář in Plzeň, western Czechia. A local report published on 20 December captioned its photograph of customers with the words “Thursday queue for fish.” This was not merely a crowd near a market: people were waiting their turn to buy carp and other fish for Christmas.
Carp is closely associated with the Czech Christmas table. Live fish were available at the sale, but the City of Plzeň advised customers, on animal-welfare grounds, not to carry them home alive and instead to have them killed at the point of sale. The tradition therefore involves more than a recipe. It includes choosing the fish, deciding how it will be handled and preparing it for the holiday meal.
The people in line were not waiting for an everyday grocery item but for one fish that would help define an annual celebration. Menus differ across borders, yet the wish to have a festive dish ready on time is familiar almost everywhere. At the cold fish stall, many private Christmas preparations briefly became one public line.