New Year celebrations symbolize the setting aside of the past and looking forward to a new year of prosperity and good health. When planning your New Year’s party, invite good fortune into your home with some of these good luck foods and traditions.
Southern Traditions
Hoppin’ John, a dish made from black-eyed peas and pork fat, is thought to have its origins from the African slaves of the early 1800s. As for its powers to attract good luck, that lies in a civil war legend. Lauren Salkeld, writing for Epicurous. com, explains that during a prolonged battle in Vicksburg, Mississippi food stores were nearly depleted when a large cache of black-eyed peas was discovered. The legume has since been considered a symbol of good luck.
Serve the Hoppin’ John with an abundance of greens and cornbread. The greens, preferably collard greens, represent money, or more specifically, folding money, while the cornbread represents coin because it is the color of gold coin.
European Traditions
Greens aren’t just found in the good luck lore of the south. In Germany and Ireland, green cabbage is served with braised pork or corned beef. Legumes also grace the tables of New Year revelers in the European tradition; lentils in particular are paired with pork, as the lentils resemble coin and pork has its own place in the celebrations.
Pork as a New Year’s Eve celebratory food has origins from Spain, Portugal and Austria, among other European countries. The traditions include such delicious dishes as roasted suckling pig, roast pork, pork sausages and pigs’ feet. The pig is a good luck symbol for a prosperous New Year because of its habit of rutting forward; it digs in and pushes forward, letting nothing prevent it from reaching its goal.
Hispanic Traditions
The tradition of eating a grape at each stroke of the clock at midnight on New Year’s Eve originated in Spain, and was a response to a grape surplus in 1909. It was a practical solution and is now associated with foretelling the fortunes of the coming year. The tradition is common throughout Mexico and South America.
The idea behind this tradition is to eat a grape at each chime of the clock, not to be confused with each second of a countdown to midnight. At midnight, in Spain, the clock in the Plaza del Sol chimes 12 times. A chime lasts just long enough to eat a grape- quickly.
Each grape represents one month of the coming year. The first grape is indicative of January, then, and if sour, January may be a difficult month.
Along with the tradition of 12 grapes is custom of placing a coin in the pan dulce, a Mexican sweet bread. The baker in the family hides a coin in one of the treats, and the recipient of the coin is said to have good luck throughout the year.
Resources:
Epicurious.com
What’s Cooking America
Good Housekeeping
Farmers Almanac
Further Reading:
A Dippy Christmas Tradition
Tips for Making Low-Fat Stew
Foods for a Productive Breakfast Meeting