Flounders and crabs and shrimp, oh my, it’s a jubilee. Perhaps it’s a happy celebration or maybe a song of future happiness. To some, it’s a grand tradition. What exactly is a jubilee, and what does it have to do with seafood? We’re about to let you in on an amazing secret. Let’s jump in!
A jubilee conjures in the imagination a time of celebration or abundance. The concept has religious origins. In the Bible’s Old Testament, every seven years, a jubilee provided a structure for land management. People would abstain from farming to let the land rest.
The origin of jubilee is Latin, meaning “to shout for joy.” On the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, Alabama, locals and newcomers alike are jubilant to see an unusual phenomenon. The congregation of watery creatures in the shallows along the bay’s shores is a jubilee.
Coastal Alabama receives river water from throughout two-thirds of the state as well as portions of Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. When these waters mix with the salty water of the Gulf of Mexico, we get an estuary. That’s the Mobile Bay and Mobile Tensaw Delta.