New Year Meals and Resolutions

Happy New Year!  Perhaps one of the most well-known traditions, millions of Americans celebrated the beginning of a new year with family and friends, cooking, eating and watching college football. For many, the New Years Day meal is as much about tradition as the ball dropping in Times Square. New Year’s Day is a recognized event superstition, ceremonial gatherings, and of course, cuisines that have historical significance and symbolism.  

In the Southern United States, it is customary to eat pork, black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. This tradition dates to the Civil War era. Black-eyed peas were considered animal feed and were left untouched by the unions soldiers during raids, making them a symbol of luck and survival for Southerners. Collard greens with their green color, symbolize money and financial prosperity while corn bread represents gold.  And finally, pork. It is common in many cultures, including the US, Germany and other Central European countries. Pigs are seen as symbols of progress because they root forward when foraging unlike chickens that scratch backwards. This forward movement is associated with moving forward in the new year. Pork tenderloin is our choice of meat on New Years.  

Other worldwide traditions include Oliebollen, (Dutch donuts) in the Netherlands, Soup Joumou in Haiti, and the eating of 12 grapes at midnight in Spain. Whether it’s for luck, prosperity or protection, these culinary customs provide a meaningful way to start the new year with a sense of connection to the past and optimism for the future. Of course, regardless of the foods you eat, folklore reminds us that traditions are meaningful and do a good job of bringing people together.  

If you have overindulged in your New Years celebration, then you may find yourself taking part in another tradition, dating back approximately 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, making a New Years resolution.  The Babylonians celebrated the new year during a 12-day festival called Akitu. During this festival they made promises to their gods to pay debts, and return borrowed items, hoping to earn favor the coming year. In the early Christian era New Year’s Day became a time for reflection on mistakes and resolving to improve. In 1740, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, which included making resolutions for the new year. 

Today, New Year’s resolutions are largely secular and focus on personal goals. The most common being weight loss and exercise. Gym membership increase by 12% on average in January. Not surprisingly only 9% of those who make resolutions achieve them. In fact, quitting resolutions is so common that the second Friday in January is known as Quitters Day. Instead of making resolutions, which have a high fail rate, it may be best to create a bucket list of things you would like to accomplish. Despite how many times resolutions are forfeited, this tradition of setting them is not likely to go away. If you choose to go for a new year’s resolution, we wish you nothing but success. Just in case you choose a gym membership to help you attain your resolution goal, please be sure to cancel that bank draft if your resolution energy runs out.   

However, you choose to approach 2025, let me share a great resolution that doesn’t require memberships, bank drafts, or getting sweaty at the gym. What is it? Keep God first and build habits around serving Him. For those of you who already do this, share your peace with another.   

Happy New Years 

Roger Fuller