Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Eat Black-Eyed Peas for Luck in the New Year by STEPHANIE CRIDER attorney put the event on.��� Anyone who has been in the south on New Year���s Day knows that just as the sun It is not unusual for more than 3,000 people to show up depending on what day of rises in the east and sets in the west there will be pork, collard greens and black-eyed the week the New Year falls on. peas on the table come the ���rst of the year. Serving ���With New Year���s being on Tuesday we���ll have a anything else is just inviting bad luck. Combine this big crowd,��� said Warren. ���If it was on a Friday or a traditional meal with a huge helping of southern Monday a lot of people get that day tied in to a weekend hospitality and you���ve got a Fayetteville tradition ��� and go out of town. When it falls on Sunday people the New Year���s Day Black-eyed Pea Dinner ��� which come after church. When it is midweek not many takes place the ���rst of every year at the Crown from 11 people are out of town. I���m fairly certain there will be at a.m. to 2 p.m. least 3,000 there.��� In the 1970s and ���80s, then Sheriff Ottis F. The meal is signi���cant in more ways than one. Not Jones and local attorney, Willis Brown, hosted the only is it a great chance for fellowship, greeting the meal. When Jones died in 1987 the black-eyed pea new year and breaking bread with friends old and dinner came to an end as well. Fast forward to the new, superstition has it that this is the meal that will early ���90s when Register of Deeds Lee Warren took determine how 2013 unfolds. Everything on the plate of���ce. Warren, his dad and his buddy Owen Spears represents something for the new year. were talking about how they could give back to the The pork promises progress. Pigs push forward when community. His dad tossed out the idea of bringing they forage for food, unlike other foraging animals. back the black-eyed pea dinner. The next dinner Black-eyed peas were once used as food for livestock. was hosted on New Year���s Day of 1993 and the A typical southern New Year���s Day dinner is filled with symbolism. During the Civil War when Sherman���s troops plundered rest is history. the south they destroyed all the crops except the humble Sure it���s a long day, but with the help of many black-eyed pea. That���s what got the Confederates friends, partners and volunteers it���s something that through the winter that year. Because they are small and somewhat round, the Warren looks forward to every year. ���It is a time to start the year off right. It���s a terri���c opportunity to share with others and one of those things we enjoy doing,��� said legumes have also come to represent coins. Served with collard greens (or cabbage in some areas), which Warren. ���It takes probably 60-70 volunteers. There are a lot of the people that come represents paper money and cornbread, which represents gold, it is out and assist us. de���nitely a good idea to clean your ���It is really a team effort, with many partners and volunteers involved,��� he plate so your wallet will be full in 2013. STEPHANIE CRIDER, Associate continued. ���Many of them have been doing it for years and they look forward to it as Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@ The event is free and open to much as we all do. It is a good southern tradition that we love to carry on. My family upandcomingweekly.com the public. and I and Ed Grannis our long time district attorney and Billie West the new district WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM DEC. 26, 2012 - JAN. 1, 2013 UCW 9