By Violet Wisdom
When you grow up with tradition as a child you have a tendency to think that your tradition is everyone’s tradition. Everyone makes goals for New Year’s and counts down to midnight right? Okay, I admit, I rarely make it past ten p.m. anymore, but when I was younger… Anyway, everyone eats pickled herring on New Year’s Eve, of course.
Imagine my shock when I became a Missouri resident and couldn’t find pickled herring anywhere except the local Scandinavian shop in our uptown. Come to find out, Missourians eat black eyed peas on the last day of the year. Very few of them even knew who Bob and Doug McKenzie were, let alone made watching the movie Strange Brew while wearing thermal underwear and a touque a part of their yearly routine.
Whether you eat pickled fish or spotted beans to ring in the new year, there are even more interesting traditions throughout the world and there are some pretty solid reasons behind them, most of which are based on ushering in a new year filled with prosperity. As part of researching this blog I threw out a social media post asking everyone to share their own traditions, several will be included in the following list of the Whats and Whys of NYE!
We’ll start with the herring..
I knew this was a Scandinavian thing to some degree, but was unsure if it had been more widely adopted in northern states regardless of personal genealogy. The latter still remains a mystery. My Aunt clarified that at least in our family, the tradition traces back at least five generations to my Great-Grandmother when she lived in Ohio. This side of the family is part German/Slavic as are the origins to the tradition. Herring has silver scales and was a great source of income for fishermen in Northern/North Eastern Europe. Eating it on NYE came with a wish of a prosperous coming year.
Black Eyed Peas-
Most of the responses I got to my query involved these popular legumes. Some also included pork and collard greens. The tradition of the peas is primarily believed to come from the Civil War. It is said that the Union Army took much of the food when they came through the south, except the peas. Having the peas left in their possession gave southerners sustenance and hope. Some also say the peas represent coins as in the southern saying, “Peas for pennies, greens for dollars and cornbread for gold”
Collard Greens are green like money. They are eaten specifically with prosperity in mind.
Pork is considered a Germanic tradition being a staple meat in the region. It can be cured and kept safely throughout winter and counted on a source of protein.
All three can be cooked together for a fantastic meal.
Other prosperous foods around the world include rice in India, round (ring shaped) fritters in the Netherlands, and 12 grapes (One for each month of the year) in Spain.
A Clean Start To the New Year-
In Brazil, people wash all their clothes and wear white except for their underclothes. The white is to keep darkness away, the colorful undies are for luck. In South Africa homes are tidied up and anything unnecessary is gotten rid of, often by throwing the old out the window. Interestingly, some traditions are quite opposing, believing that cleaning on New Year’s would lead to the need for constant cleaning for the coming year.
Extend kindness-
In Belgium everyone must receive a New Year blessing, including the livestock. I’ll be trying this with my chickens, who knows, maybe we’ll get more eggs this year.
Start the Year Positive-
People in Ecuador send any negativity from the previous year away by burning scarecrows. Appalachians would walk their property line with a willow branch smacking the ground to remove any bad luck, also using a hawthorn branch would prevent lightning strikes and thievery.
With each generation our traditions change and evolve with the times. I think I’ve only watched Strange Brew once since having a family of my own. We wear regular clothes, eat snacks and often play a game. Many others responded in kind, having a family dinner, watching the year end Big Fat Quiz Show or Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve (Now hosted by Ryan Seacrest). Even with these modern means of celebration, nearly everyone had one that has generational origins. However it is that you plan to usher in 2025, we wish each and everyone of you the happiest New Year!
Have a tradition to share? Comment here on the blog or on our social media.
Kommentare