Our Southern New Year Tradition

Ever since I was a tiny little girl, as far back as I can remember, my family has gathered around the table on New Years Day to partake in our traditional meal of black-eyed peas, greens, cornbread and hog jowls. It wasn't just our family, but every family that we knew. I remember one year asking my Mama why we "had" to eat the same foods every year and she responded, "It's tradition". As you can imagine that didn't get rid of my curiosity. I wanted to know more, so I went to the best source I had, my grandmother. She explained to me that each food represented something for the new year. The hog jowl was for health, the greens for paper money, the black-eyed peas for pennies, and the cornbread was for gold.  I never questioned my Grandmothers explanation and even though they weren't my favorite foods at the time, I forced myself to eat them.

Time moved on, my grandmother passed away, but still every year we had our traditional first meal. Of course, my family has added other dishes to the menu like Mac&Cheese and potatoes, but we still have those traditional foods every year.  As I grew older I learned to appreciate each of the foods we ate and to respect our family/cultural traditions.

Today as I write this I am preparing for my first meal of the year. My family and I will be headed to my brothers, with hog jowls in tow, to spend the day with him. I was interested in where the traditions came from so I decided to do a little research and what I found out was very interesting. It seems that during the Civil War, when Sherman marched through Georgia, the only food he left was black-eyed peas. He didn't think they were suitable for anything but the animals. It turns out that was a fortunate belief for the southerners, it gave them something to eat over the cold winter months. It just makes sense that pork would be on the table, as hog would be salted and kept for months. Greens being on the table makes sense as they are a late crop, so they would still be in season at the beginning of the year.  When the Civil War (aka The War of Northern Aggression) ended, the south was crippled and brought to her knees, which was what the North wanted. The people had to learn to make the best out of what they had and much of the time that was almost nothing, but survive they did.

The people of the American South have always risen from the ashes and lived to fight another day. I am so very proud to say that I am descended from such an extraordinary and amazing group of men and women.

Now let's eat! 

"That's 'my two cents worth', what's yours?"