I have a question about Passover, where does the tradition of carp come from?

Fish is a meat that is kosher regardless of slaughter, so it is a favorite among Jews for shabbat and festivals because it is Kosher. Kosher chickens, beef and lamb are more expensive, and the fish course tends to take some of the pressure off the more expensive meats. It's any white fish usually, not necessarily carp.

My community always has the obligatory gefilte fish (fish ball soup) at most festival meals, but Sefardic. Portugues and Italian might have bacalao, a salt cod dish made some way.

Gefilte fish is from Ashkenazi (Jewish European) tradition. So I don't think there's any special symbolism with passover seder. It's just a popular food.

As mentioned below, eating Gefilte fish is a common Asheknazic custom, which originated in Europe. In fact, the word "gefilte" is Yiddish, and originates from the German "gefüllte," meaning "stuffed." Merriam Webster dictionary dates the word to 1892, making this a fairly recent custom.

"Some people believe that gefilte fish has become a traditional food to avoid 'borer ("selection/choosing"), which is one of the 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath. Borer would occur when one picks the bones out of the fish, taking 'the chaff from within the food.' " (Wikipedia.) This explanation is plausible.

In addition, eating fish on Shabbat is mentioned in Kabbalistic sources.

There is a Hungarian custom *not* to eat fish on Passover.

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There's a humorous "biblical" source for the custom here: http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj/HUMOR/Biblical_S...

answer: something that became tradition over time. Not all Jewish communities have the same tradition.

yikes & YUCK, isn't carp is of the unclean :-( why would eating unclean be even considered??? why not more of the unclean slugs in a half shell, escargot'??? the rich pay big bucks for that...Peace/Love & God Bless