New Year’s traditions: In the South, it’s all about the greens
Published 3:35 am Saturday, December 30, 2017
People celebrate New Year’s differently.
In New York City the ball drops in Times Square, in Spain a custom is to eat 12 grapes, one for each month, to have good luck, and in South America they build a life size dummy and set it on fire to symbolize leaving the old year behind.
But in the South all the luck is in the food consumed on New Year’s Day..
Ham, lentils, black-eyed peas and collared greens are all considered lucky to eat.
“All year long people buy greens, but it seems like during the New Year there is a spike in sales,” said Shawn Anders a sales associate of Pic-N-Sav.
Eating collard greens has been a tradition because of how they look like crumpled up dollar bills. The superstition is when they are consumed during the New Year’s celebration the person eating them will gain wealth and prosperity in the new year.
Winn Dixie manager, Josh Williamson, said, “Most of our customers seem to purchase greens as a tradition for good luck. We usually see an increase with customers buying due to tradition and because we provide them with a great quality product.”