Black-eyed Peas--Happy New Year
Posted: December 30th, 2008, 11:54 pm
Black-eyed peas
not the band, not the restaurant chain
I mean the humble legume itself
biological name, Vigna unguiculata
which sounds pretty sexy to me
Good luck is sexy
and where I come from
black-eyed peas mean good luck
when eaten on the New Year
The cowpeas are soaking now
two days in anticipation
they will be tender, tender as the New Year
tender as good luck
The ham bone waits and the cornbread
It's a humble bean
eat it slowly
Happy New Year to one and all
not the band, not the restaurant chain
I mean the humble legume itself
biological name, Vigna unguiculata
which sounds pretty sexy to me
Good luck is sexy
and where I come from
black-eyed peas mean good luck
when eaten on the New Year
The cowpeas are soaking now
two days in anticipation
they will be tender, tender as the New Year
tender as good luck
The ham bone waits and the cornbread
It's a humble bean
eat it slowly
Happy New Year to one and all
These "good luck" traditions date back to the U.S. Civil War. Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, would typically strip the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock and destroy whatever they couldn't carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" and corn suitable only for animal fodder, and as a result didn't steal or destroy these humble foods. Many Southerners survived as a result of this mistake--wiki