For some, especially Southerners, it's tradition to eat collard greens, black-eyed peas, and pork on New Years Day. For those who may wonder why, here's a great answer.
All of the components symbolize good luck/prosperity/wealth.I'd suggest reading the other answers, too, at the above link.
The collards are green (and our dollar is still green, and the rest of the money is still mostly green) - prosperity.
The pork is symbolic of progress and prosperity because the pig is the only animal that eats while it is moving forward.
Black eyed peas symbolize good luck. There are several stories around as to why. [One story] is that when Savannah was burned to the ground, the people suffered great deprivation, and then, luckily, a huge barrel of black-eyed peas was discovered and the black-eyed peas kept the population from starving until more food could be had.
Have a happy, prosperous, and lucky year!
Posted by Note Taker
2 comments:
We eat it up north too.
Mostly an African American dish, but the whites eat it too.
I've made it myself, with pork hocks.
They sell fresh collards, mustard and turnip greens, kale, but also canned for the lazy.
The packaged chopped is a mess. They don't bother removing the tuff vegetable rids, so I don’t buy it.
Dandelion greens are rare in stores.
The blackeyed peas for some reason don't give me gas, but I've got around that with beans by adding ground caraway to the bean pot.
Every time I look at that I get hungry, sort of reminds me of going to my aunt's home on weekends.
She always put on a big spread, whole table covered with food.
My mom and her sisters were born in Arkansas, don't know how long they lived there, but might of had something to do with it.
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