The most widely observed aspect of Hoodoo New Year’s Customs is the cooking and serving of traditional New Year's foods. While some sources will call these culinary customs, “southern traditions,” they are most notably African traditions, carried on and diversified by African-Americans, and are as culturally significant as they are regionally significant.
There are three primary staple foods that are cooked for New Years in African-American households across the United States: black eyed peas, leafy greens (collards & cabbage are most common), and cornbread. Other foods such as sweet potatoes, meats, and rice are often served with these foods. While many African-American households will regard these food choices as simply “black culture,” it is too a continuation of our Hoodoo roots and our homeland traditions. Each of these foods are cooked with intention and have both cultural and spiritual significance. They serve a specific purpose, each aiding us in our strive for good fortune and favor in the New Year.
Black eyed peas were brought to the United States along with enslaved Africans during the trans-atlantic slave trade. Their resemblance to penny coins and their significance as a native African food were *worked* by our ancestors to bring us good fortune in the New Year.
In the Carolinas and across the south, there is a traditional dish called Hoppin John that is often served on New Year Eve & Day. It originally consisted of red beans, field peas or cow peas, animal fats and white rice. Nowadays, a variation of this dish is served with black eyed peas, animal fats and white rice. While proposed origins of the name of this dish vary, it is commonly believed that Hoppin John was a crippled man who sold black eyed peas and rice on the streets of Charleston, and that the dish was named after him.
Collard Greens and Cabbage are two Hoodoo New Years staples. These rich, green foods represent dolla dolla bills, ya’ll! They are also worked* and served to bring good fortune in the New Years.
Cornbread is often served with black eyed peas and collard greens. It represents gold and brings success and good luck.
Other foods such as sweet potatoes and okra, and meats such as fried chicken, oxtails, chitlins, and ham hocks, are commonly served along with these foods and each bring their own special juju to the table!
It’s important to note that the juju is not just in the food itself. Anyone can buy and serve these foods. No, the juju is found within the cultural ways that African-Americans relate through the preparing, working* and serving of traditional food. It is in our relationship to and honoring of the plants & animals we are preparing. It is in the family recipe, in the kitchen experience, in the prayer spoken at the dinner table. It is in the seasoning, in the fellowship, in the conversations that happen as we feast. It’s in the dance, in the song, in the way we celebrate death, rebirth, and new cycles. The juju that brings us good fortune still to this day, is in the remembrance of our ancestors, and in the observance of their traditions.