Monday, December 31, 2012

Monday Mystery - New Year's Day Foods

It's a mystery why cultures believe certain foods bring prosperity in the coming year if eaten on New Year's Day. But it's clear that like all good mysteries by discovering the foods and the areas they are eaten you could crack the mystery.

In the South it was believed that by eating a dish of black-eyed peas and hog jowls on New Year's Day it would bring good luck. They also believed that any food that swelled when it cook (black-eyed peas) ensured prosperity  If you ate collard greens you would gain greenbacks.

A feast of sauerkraut is what the Pennsylvania Dutch believed brought good health throughout the year. And German descendants believe that by swallowing herring at midnight on New Year's Eve brought good fortune in the coming year.

Latin Americans believed to eat 12 grapes at midnight would be lucky and ensure a fruitful year.

Do any of you know the reasoning behind these New Year's beliefs? Or know of any others? How could this be used in a mystery?

Perhaps a poison is injected into a grape or sprinkled into one portion of collard greens.


There are so many opportunities to come up with good scenarios for mysteries.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like it's just an excuse to eat great food. :) Happy New Year to you Paty. I hope you are not getting snowed in tomorrow. It seems the storm is heading your way.

Paty Jager said...

LOL Maggie, That was my assumption too. It also sounds like a good excuse to me. It was cold here today. It will have to warm up to dump any snow on us.