Old Traditions or Is It Habits Hard to Break

Fiḍál (Grace), 1 Sharaf (Honour), 170 BE - Tuesday, December 31, 2013 about 9:50 am Pacific Standard Time

Old traditions habits hard to break. I can remember Grandma Mary preparing for New Year's Day, she always finished the laundry on New Year's Eve because she didn't believe in doing laundry on the first day of a New Year. Grandma said "Whatever you do on New Year's Day you'll be doing the rest of the year." That is why she didn't do laundry or most housework on New Year's Day. The only type of household chores she performed on a New Year's Day was making beds and washing dishes.

I seem to find that habit tradition hard to break because today I'm finishing up all the laundry that I can find because I don't want to do laundry tomorrow, January 1, 2014. Another tradition I have difficulty breaking fixing black eyed peas on New Year's Day. When I went to the store yesterday, I purchased one can of black eyed peas for my January 1 menu. Grandma always fixed black eyed peas on the first day of the year.

Normally, Grandma made them from scratch. She would put the dried black eyed peas to soak the night before and then on the morning of January 1 put them onto cook. Grandma usually seasoned the peas she cooked with with pigs feet. I prefer to season mine (when I make them from scratch) with a honey baked ham bone and pieces of the ham. However, this year I'm going to have the canned peas because I have no way to fix the dried ones at this time. Maybe I'll fix black eyed peas in March for Naw-Ruz.

Grandma Mary always fixed black eyed peas on January 1 because she thought they were good luck. I'll have to do some research on that superstition, I don't believe what you eat on the first attracts good luck, but it would be nice to know where the superstition originated.