Back In The Day: Traditions tied to new year have profound impact

As the new year is but two days away, I would like to help you make your “to do” list for the start of 2019. So, let me do this by visiting some practices of the past, many of which I highlighted in previous New Year’s Eve/Day columns. In order to have a New Year comparable to that of our grandparents, parents and even some of you, you might want to check off some items from this list. Let us start and kick off 2019 with some activities in a back in the day manner.
One New Year’s practice from back in the day is the selection and preparation of certain foods. If you have not been to the market to purchase your black-eyed peas, hog maws, collard greens, potatoes for potato salad, ribs and yes, chitterlings, it may be too late.

I am hearing from friends and associates that several stores where they shop are sold out of collard greens. These days, it appears that collard greens and other “down home” delicacies are being enjoyed by others that do not look like you and me.
I understand from some back in the day aficionados, that collard greens represent money.
But, if you have nothing else, you must have black-eyed peas. At this late hour, you also need to search for them dried, frozen or canned.
For most of us growing up back in the day, the image of our mothers preparing black-eyed peas will be with us for as long as we live. According to our mothers, this was for good luck.
Before I knew anything about the change from one year to another, I knew the tradition and significance of black-eyed peas. So, if you do not have black-eyed peas in your home, go to a neighbor and borrow some. As you know, the custom was to have black-eyed peas cooking when the new year arrived.
You may also have to locate some of the other traditional New Year’s foods. You back in the day folk know that while collard greens are important, having them with hog maws are a “must.”
Then there are “chitterlings” or pig intestines. I could never forget chitterlings! On New Year’s Eve, I was driven out of my parents’ home and stayed out for hours because of the awful smell of chitterlings and my mother’s insistence that they be included on the dinner table on New Year’s Day.
While I loved my mother’s cooking, there was nothing about chitterlings or “wrinkled steaks” as some called them that appealed to me.
For me, there is nothing more precious than observing friends who have “arrived,” living in spacious homes in the suburbs with one of those expensive foreign automobiles in their driveway and enjoying their chitterlings on New Year’s Day. You know the old saying, “You can take the boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the boy.” Thus, if you are one of these folk enjoying chitterlings on New Year’s Day, remember that you can take some brothers and sisters out of the hood, but you cannot take out some of the traditions.
There are some other actions practiced on the entrance of a New Year that happened back in the day. Have you arranged for a man to be the first person entering your home after midnight on New Year’s Day? It was the belief of our parents and grandparents that this practice brought good luck. However, this person could not be someone who lived in the household.
When I wrote about this some years ago, a friend told me that she had to wait outside of her grandmother’s home for hours until a man that did not reside there came to the home. She told me that while she believed in her parents’ wisdom and guidance, she had serious problems with this tradition as many men cannot bring good luck to themselves, so you have to wonder how they could bring good luck to a home.
One of my colleagues told me that she was serious in embracing this tradition; so serious until she and her girlfriends, having moved into a new apartment and having not planned for a man to be the first to enter their apartment, looked out of the window and asked a stranger to come in and cross their threshold. He did, but after seeing all of the young ladies, did not want to leave. They had to force him out!
Have you started writing all of your bills to go in the mail before Jan. 1? You must recall being told that if you started the new year with unpaid bills, you would go through the year always behind in your bills. My parents also insisted that we have money in our pockets or pocketbooks when New Year’s Day arrived.
According to the “old-timers,” if you had no money on the first day of the year, you would have no money during the entire year. So, make certain you have a few extra dollars in your pocket as midnight rings in.
Then there was the issue of dirty clothing. I hope you have started washing your clothing and household items as well as making sure that your home is clean and neat. Having everything cleaned before the New Year’s arrived was an absolute must!

My mother would give as much attention to the dirty clothing as the preparation of New Year’s Day dinner.
There could be no dirty clothing According to my mother, dirty clothing meant bad luck. Thus, not only was the clothing washed, it was ironed, folded and put away. I doubt if many of you embrace this tradition today; addressing dirty laundry today is more of an issue of convenience rather than good luck. Thus, I would imagine that there are a whole lot of you who will have bad luck going into the year of 2019.
Today, as in the past, many of you have identified resolutions to make on New Year’s Eve; resolutions that will be kept for a few weeks or even for just a few days. Some of the more popular resolutions that are made year after year are: getting in shape, losing weight, saving more money, drinking less, discontinuing smoking or cursing, spending more time with family and friends and going to church more often.
I will admit that back in the day, I was a partygoer on New Year’s Eve. There were parties in homes all over the city. Some of you will recall the big cabarets at the Civic Center with so many people until tables and seats were also placed on the stage. So, where have all the partygoers gone? I speak of those who went from one party to another. Yes, there are partygoers today, but they tend to go to a party and stay at that party.
Back in the day, however, you saw them in their party hats, blowing party horns or turning their noisemakers. The sites were often so wild and unbelievable that people would drive through the streets just to see people so drunk until they were engaged in a “running drunk.” This type of drunk can be described as a situation where the drunk would run slowly and run close to a wall, to avoid falling over.
On Monday evening, some of us will go to church to welcome in Jan 1. Back in the day, however, most of us went to church; it was expected. This was a ritual instilled in us by our grandparents and parents. Thus, we went to “Watch Night Service” where the minister would designate one male member as the Watchman.
Do you know that the Watch Night services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings held on Dec. 31, 1862? This service was also known as “Freedom’s Eve?” This is a part of our history that you should take time to research. For those of you who remember church on New Year’s Eve in the past, you might recall the preacher asking, “Watch man, Watch man, what time is it?” After song, prayer and well wishes, we departed the sanctuary feeling good about having started the year in the spirit of Christian love.
As you prepare to leave 2018 behind, let me suggest that you take some of the traditions from this column and share them with your love ones. These traditions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors have played a significant role in molding us and making us the individuals we are today. As insignificant as some of these traditions might appear, they are a part of who we are.
Most racial and ethnic groups practice their traditions and do all in their power to ensure that the traditions will continue. Our children need lessons and they need traditions. You can instill these practices by constantly reminding, demonstrating and modeling those traditions that had a profound impact on our behavior. Let us show the love and respect that were once a part of our everyday way of life. Let us start this Jan. 1 and make this a major resolution.
We need to return to those practices, the insignificant ones and the significant ones, that were instilled in us by our ancestors, back in the day.