Steeped in Tradition, Hungry for Change or Just Hungry?

A New Year’s Day tradition in my family, stemming from our German heritage is to have Pork & Sauerkraut as the main dish. I share this with you because I always seem to have this “need” to know where I come from and to pass it on to my kids around this time of the year. It usually starts around Thanksgiving, or the beginning of November, the 11th to be exact – that is when Fasching (German Mardi Gras if you will) begins and I don’t seem to want to give it up until the ground starts thawing out and I need to work on losing the weight I have stock piled over the winter months. Because I don't know a single meal that has been passed down in my family that is truly good for you, even though they all taste great.

This year is no different. I feel inclined to share it with you because I also know that my daughter from France (Emily Martinez) now also reads this, and after talking with her yesterday I realized I haven’t shared with her much of how our history from Europe did follow us to the United States. Though it has changed over the years, and become “American” there is still a need for some of us, to keep that bond with our ancestors.

So why eat pig and cabbage on the first day of the new year…Cabbage leaves are symbolic of money not to mention, those Germans love sauerkraut. Autumn would probably eat it every day if I would make it. The pig has several important factors – the symbolism is that you eat pig instead of chicken because pigs rout/dig forward (with their snouts) and chickens scratch backwards. So going into a new year, you are looking, moving forward. To go deeper than that, and something more rooted in actual meaning – many families felt very fortunate to have pigs over the winter to be able to feed their families. I was also told that families would tell each other when they had eaten pig because essentially it was like telling people you had good luck. This was true in Germany, and also true in many of the early German settlers in the US (both in Pennsylvania and Minnesota which was first settled by Germans - this little fact I did not know until this past weekend)

That is also how it came to be that people story their money in “Piggy Banks”. Pigs were considered good luck. I’m not a big fan of marzipan, but I think most people are familiar with the giving of marzipan pigs on New Years for good luck – now you know why.

So, as I was talking to Emily on the phone – I told her Autumn was scarfing down our traditional meal, and she was quite surprised. Em has been studying in Germany for the past several years and seems it’s not much of a tradition there anymore. I will tell you more of Emily later if you care to read, she is my beautiful 23 year old daughter from France.

Funny isn’t it, American heritage is so young, and we want so badly to have a history – or be grown up if you will, and Germany, STEEPED in traditions, values, history, and people is ok with embracing the new, young culture across the pond and blending it into their every day lives. I guess it’s not much different from teenagers and an aging adult. What you can apply to one, you can also apply to many.

Sounds like a solid theorem to me and we all know how much I love logic...