The informant says that her grandfather always used to make black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  The grandfather always said it was good luck to eat them on January 1, but the informant believes it was just because her grandfather enjoyed making black-eyed peas.  The informant believes it was “just some kind of weird thing” her family did.

While the ritual may seem “weird” to the informant, I think this belief is actually fairly wide-spread.  I’d suggest that eating some kind of vegetable, that comes from the Earth, could be some kind of New Year ritual–as in, perhaps it reestablishes one’s connection with the Earth.