.January 07, 2008

Jan Edwards
FOR San Bernard Director
PR Representative
Original OC member
 

New Year Traditions 

By Jan Edwards

All my life, I have eaten a meal of black-eyed peas, rice, cornbread, pork (either ham or sausage) and cabbage or turnip greens on New Year’s Day.  I know this meal is a Southern tradition and I ALWAYS eat this food, but I always wondered what was at the root of this tradition. So, the first day of 2008, I Googled it up on the computer and what I found out about this meal and other New Year’s traditions was pretty interesting.

Let’s start out with black-eyed peas. According to the article in The Salt Lake Tribune, black-eyed peas originated in Africa and were brought to the New World by both Spanish colonists and African captured slaves. But, back in the days of Southern gentility and Northern hostility, the black-eyed peas were used only as cattle food. In fact, they were known as “cowpeas”. During the battle of Vicksburg in the Civil War, the town was under siege for over 40 days. No supplies came in and the town was on the verge of starvation. So, the people ate the peas, thus starting a Southern tradition. We eat the peas today on New Year’s Day to bring good luck.

But the eating of black-eyed peas goes back further than the Civil War. They go back to the days of the Pharaoh and even then, they were a symbol of good luck and fortune. Even then, the black-eyed peas (which are really neither peas or beans, but lentils) were an inexpensive and humble food and eating them  would show humility and would save those who ate them from the wrath of the heavens because of any personal vanity they might have.

So what about the rest of the food that is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day?

Generally, they all bring you money or luck in the New Year. If you eat black-eyed peas, you generally eat them with some kind of pork. The black-eyed peas (in many cultures) have been considered good luck, as I have already discussed. The hog, and thus its meat, is also considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage or turnip or mustard greens are considered a sign of prosperity as they symbolize paper currency. Rice is also considered a “lucky” food. And you should eat corn bread because if symbolizes gold. Looks like my mom covered all the bases. Guess I’ll keep up the tradition.

Want to know what else I found out about New Year’s celebrations? Well, read on. Did you know that the celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays? It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox - the first day of spring. That would be the logical time to start a new year, huh? It is, after all, the season of rebirth and planting crops. But our celebrating the New Year January 1 has no astronomical or agricultural significance – it’s just a date. The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days and each day had its own particular celebration. I guess our New Year celebrations, though wild at times would not hold a candle to the Babylonians. Romans continued to observe the New Year - but late in March. Their calendar, though, was continually changed by different emperors so it was soon out of sync with the sun. In order to set things right, the 153 BC Roman Senate declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But, the calendar was still tampered with until Julius Caesar in 46 BC came up with the Julian calendar. It again set January 1 as the New Year.

The early Roman Catholic Church condemned celebrating the New Year and the wild festivities as paganism. But, as Christianity became more widespread, the early church started having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations – New Year’s Day was no different. During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years and as a result, January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about 400 years.

You know how we all see the New Year represented as a baby in diapers? Well, this tradition began in Greece around 600 BC. Their tradition at the start of a new year was to celebrate Dionysus, their god of wine, by parading a baby in a basket. This represented the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as their symbol of rebirth each year. The early Christians denounced the practice of using a baby as the symbol of the new year citing paganism. But the popularity of the baby used a s a symbol of rebirth forced them to change their position and they finally allowed its members to celebrate the New Year with a baby – which they said symbolized the birth of the baby Jesus.  And the use of a baby with a New Year’s banner came to the United States through German immigrants – Germany had used this effigy since the fourteenth century.

Well, as I am writing this, there is still about 5 hours left in the first day of 2008 – still time for another serving of black-eyed peas, cabbage, cornbread, rice, and ham. While some might not think this practice brings good luck, I figure - what the heck? It can’t hurt, I can start the diet tomorrow and we all can use all the good luck and prosperity.  After all, thousands of years of tradition are there for a reason and who am I to break with tradition?