JANUARY 2023

Well, we are ushering in a new year along with new goals and expectations. Some have well-thought plans and schedules to accomplish much. Some have superstitions and traditions that lean toward luck.

The Shelton crew marches on! Like many of you, a new year always feels like a good time to wipe the slate clean, regroup, and refocus. We make plans and we keep traditions. We seek guidance from above to map out the next steps. (For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11) But we look forward to it as an opportunity to improve on all things, starting from the place we are today and being truly thankful! (This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24)

You can look forward to seeing us at fun Kid’s Corner events (starting in February with Valentine’s Day angels), on location doing family and Senior portraits and around town at various community events. Of course, we’d love to have you drop by the studio anytime (117 1/2 N 2nd St, Guthrie)! Look for these monthly blog posts for news, tips, upcoming events and more! We are excited for 2023 and the opportunities to be a part of capturing your memories!

In the meantime, for you history buffs and in honor of long-standing traditions . . . . . see below for reason you might eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day!

Until next time!

Traci

Source credit: Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_pea

In the Southern United States, eating black-eyed peas or Hoppin' John (a traditional soul food) on New Year's Day is thought to bring prosperity in the new year. The peas are typically cooked with a pork product for flavoring (such as bacon, fatback, ham bones, or hog jowls) and diced onion, and served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar. The traditional meal also includes cabbage, collard, turnip, or mustard greens, and ham. The peas, since they swell when cooked, symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion. Cornbread, which represents gold, also often accompanies this meal.

Several legends exist as to the origin of this custom. Two popular explanations for the South's association with peas and good luck dates back to the American Civil War. The first is associated with General William T. Sherman's march of the Union Army to the sea, during which they pillaged the Confederates' food supplies. Stories say peas and salted pork were said to have been left untouched, because of the belief that they were animal food unfit for human consumption. Southerners considered themselves lucky to be left with some supplies to help them survive the winter, and black-eyed peas evolved into a representation of good luck. One challenge to this legend is that General Sherman brought backup supplies with him including three days of animal feed and would have been unlikely to have left even animal feed untouched. In addition, the dates of the first average frost for Atlanta and Savannah, respectively, are November 13 and November 28. As Sherman's march was from November 15 to December 21, 1864, it is improbable, although possible, that the Union Army would have come across standing fields of black-eyed peas as relayed in most versions of the legend. In another Southern tradition, black-eyed peas were a symbol of emancipation for African-Americans who had previously been enslaved, and who after the Civil War were officially freed on New Years Day.

Other Southern American traditions point to Jews of Ashkenazi and Sephardic ancestry in Southern cities and plantations eating the peas.