Patrick

It’s just like really quick, but um, first dinner after New Year’s you have to eat black-eyed peas, um for good luck. Um and it’s my grandma, every New Year’s makes this big pot of black-eyed peas and you have to eat at least one. But usually I’m just like, “this is my year”! And I like shovel them in and it’s like kind of a normal year.

Does all your family do this?

Mhm.

What happens if you don’t eat a black-eyed pea? Has anyone, not eaten a black-eyed pea?

No.

They just go by it? It’s just always what your family’s done?

Mhm.

Do you know where your grandma got it from?

I think it’s just a tradition. I’m assuming it must be a known tradition because Austin—

•  — Context: Patrick and Austin were in the same room together as I was collecting folklore from them. When I went to record my interview with Patrick, as soon as he started talking about his family’s New Year’s black-eyed pea tradition, Austin, sighed jokingly because that was exactly what he wanted to share with me. I did collect Austin’s variation on this so I could see how this tradition differed between their two families. –

Is it specific to a race or nationality?

I’m a European mutt, I don’t know what I am, or where this came from.

Austin

My family is Mexican and for ours it is actually, like, on the day of. You have to have it on New Year’s. And it’s black-eyed peas and you have to have like at least one. And my grandma passed it on to my dad, who like does it most of the time and I haven’t done it in a while. But it’s like supposed to bring you like good luck and make you stronger.

Does you family really abide by this?

My grandma does, but she’s also like really superstitious about a lot of things, but like, stubbornly weird about thinking about superstitions.

My Reaction:

I’ve never heard of this tradition before, but I’m curious as to the origins of it because I heard it come from two very different nationalities.