Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles | Tags: Black Eyed Peas, Cornbread, Family Traditions, Field Peas, Happy New Year!, Hog Jowl, New Years Dinner, New Years is Coming!, New Years Resolutions, New Years Traditions, Southern Traditions, Turnip Greens
Lets see a show of hands from those that eat “New Years Dinner” as a tradition… My family does and it is something that I look forward to every year!
I LOVE our New Years tradition of eating dinner with the family. We always have fried Hog Jowl, Black Eyed Peas, Turnip Greens & Cornbread! Plus much more …
We talked about the tradition on the radio yesterday and it made for quite the topic! So many people do this! But, the foods vary depending on where your from. Down South, our family meal is fairly standard – (pork, black eyed peas, greens & cornbread), but in other parts of the country different foods are enjoyed – Fish, lentils, soba noodles, soup and cake are just a few things that I heard about that surprised me. COOL!
In our tradition each food also has a symbolic meaning.
Greens represent… Yes! MONEY! Makes sense to me.
Cornbread represents… GOLD! ie: More $$$! BAM!
The Hog Jowl, or Pork represents health and affluence.
And finally Black Eyed Peas = LUCK! Pass The Peas Please!!! The peas confused a few people. WHY do they give you luck I was asked. Great question I said!
I was always told from childhood to eat my peas for good luck! I read a story that goes way back to the civil war. Black eyed peas were called field peas back in the day and were mainly used to feed livestock. But, during the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi during the Civil War the town and all the people were completely cut off from getting supply’s for months! They got so hungry that they resorted to eating the livestock feed, (ie: black eyed peas) to keep from starving! In fact, they realized that they were ‘Lucky’ to have them! Thus was born the legend of the ‘Black Eyed Peas”!
I hope you ALL have a VERY Happy New Years celebration with friends and family and enjoy those traditions that are most important to you and yours!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
Mark Carter
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Carter's Water Garden 