Collard greens, or sometimes turnip or mustard greens, are chosen because of their vibrant green color and the unusual fold of their leaves. (Courtesy photo).
Growing up as a youngin’ in the Southern United States, I knew every year following Christmas, my parents would rush to the grocery store where we would find everyone we knew, and some we didn’t, crowded around the collard greens in the produce section of our local Winn-Dixie.
With greens now secured, the race would then continue to the canned food aisle where we’d pick up a few obligatory cans of black eyes peas. Next, we’d collect a ham, and because my mom ain’t trying to cook anything from scratch after Christmas, we’d also grab a couple boxes of cornbread mix.
Always curious, it wasn’t long before I had to ask, why?
It’s not that we didn’t regularly eat all these items, we did, just never all together as a complete meal unless it was New Year’s Day.
And that was the day my younger self got educated on one of the more enduring, historical, and sacred traditions of the South land.
Why collard greens?
Collard greens, or sometimes turnip or mustard greens, are chosen because of their vibrant green color and the unusual fold of their leaves.
Their rich color is thought to represent wealth and prosperity for the upcoming year. Another reason for consuming offerings from the greens family of produce each year is because the vegetable is said to look like folded cash when plated. According to Southern lore, the greens you consume on New Year’s Day determine how much prosperity you will attract in the coming months.
Greens are usually slowly cooked with chopped onions and pork fat, simmering for hours in a broth of savory seasonings.
This broth is known as potlikker and it is both nutrient laden and delicious. Enslaved people and poor folks around the South revered the hearty liquid as an inexpensive and healthy comfort food.
Potlikker is so tasty that none of it goes to waste—it calls for a generous slab of cornbread to sop up every last drop.
Why Cornbread?
A Southern staple year-round, cornbread has a place on every Southerner’s New Year dinner plate because of its shape and color.
Its golden, buttery hue symbolizes good fortune and prosperity, guaranteeing the Southerner a bountiful new year to come. Often baked inside a cast iron skillet, cornbread’s round shape symbolizes a closeness to the sun, representing life and warmth.
What’s so special about a Black-Eyed Pea?
During the Civil War, black-eyed peas saved the starving confederacy.
When Union General William Tecumseh Sherman led his troops on his flame throwing march though Dixie, he deemed Southerners’ treasured pea fit for only animals and as such ordered the fields left untouched. The peas saved the South from starvation and now represent coinage in the coming year. Starving Southerners who felt blessed to have the pea fields, deemed them a symbol of luck across the South.
In Charleston, TN, or the “Cowpea Capitol of the World,” love for the humble black-eyed pea is on display annually during the state’s much loved Cowpea Festival where songs are sung, stories are told, and peas are eaten.
Held every September, the festival is sponsored by Bush’s Beans and features cook-off competitions, crafts, vendors, and a variety of live entertainment.
Black-eyed peas are a popular choice in classic Southern New Year’s meals alongside collard greens, ham, and cornbread. However, they’re delicious in many other recipes even after the holiday is over.
Two popular takes on pea leftovers is the Hoppin’ John or Skippin’ Jenny.
Probably originating in the Gullah Geechee communities of low country South Carolina, Hoppin’ John is prepared with rice, onions, celery, smoked pork, and of course, black -eyed peas. Tomorrow’s menu will list Hoppin’ John as Skippin’ Jenny.