A New Year Tradition, Born from Slavery

A New Year Tradition, Born from Slavery

Black Americans of African descent have many traditions tied to the beginning of a New Year. Some are celebrated with church services, parties, and special family breakfasts and dinners. But none are tied to the tradition of good luck like eating Black-Eyed peas. The good-luck tradition tied to black-eyed peas is a curious one, given the bean’s history. Like the people who first loved the legume, black-eyed peas were a product of the slave trade. The men and women who were brought to the United States were especially sought for their knowledge of planting and cultivating crops.

“In their search for a profitable crop, Southern plantation owners tried everything they could to produce profitable crops,” states the food historian and cookbook author, John Martin Taylor (a.k.a. “Hoppin’ John”). It was in all likelihood that slave traders started the import of blackeyed peas to the United States as some sort of charitable act to appease their unhappy charges during the long and often deadly across the Atlantic. In the American South, with both rice and black-eyed peas available, the natives of West Africa could prepare a dish that reminded them of their homeland: a humble combination of rice and beans that eventually became known as “hoppin’ John” (a.k.a. Black-Eye Peas.) Much has been written about the origin of the name Black-Eye Pea. Most of the theories, as Taylor wrote in a recent essay about the dish for Gastronomica, are merely “fake-lore,” because “they are based on neither fact nor historical record.” One such theory supposes the dish earned its name from children hopping around the table before they could eat their beans and rice.

Another describes a hobbled man by the name of Hoppin’ John who sold the dish on the streets of Charleston, S.C. Thorne believes the name is a corruption of the French term for pigeon peas, “pois a pigeon,” while the late food historian Karen Hess thought the name derived from “the old Persian bahatta kachang, meaning cooked rice and beans,” Taylor wrote in his essay.

“If writers and scholars disagree on the origin of the name, at least they have something to argue about. There are virtually no established theories about how hoppin’ John came to symbolize good luck, or how eating it would provide good luck for the coming year. Some point to the notion that the peas resemble coins, which would be true if our pocket change looked like jellybeans.” Taylor suggests that the tradition might (emphasis on “might”) have started during the fallow period between Christmas and New Year’s Day when slaves were given time off. The harvest season essentially over, the planting season yet to come was a good time to give thanks for past crops and raise expectations for the coming season. Such a ritual could have developed into a good-luck tradition, with the slaves’ favorite dish of hoppin’ John (aka Black-Eye Pea) as the centerpiece, known as the good luck dish. But thanks be to God, Christians know where our blessings come from whatever we eat, our Heavenly Father who gives freely to all who asks. Amen!

Praying for a Blessed New Year!!!

Dr. Precious

Reference: https://www.washingtonpost.com › lifestyle › food › 2011/12/21. Dec 27, 2011