Wednesday Wives Tales~Happy New Year

Old-time mountain folks believed that New Year's Day was closely connected with what might be happening during the new year.

It is said that a woman who washes clothes on New Year's Day will have to work hard all year. Other's believe that if one doesn't get something of worth accomplished on that day, the entire year will be spent in an 'ildesome' stupor.

Its always been a tradition in my family to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day~as it is with everyone that I know. But, I found this little saying about it that I thought all of you might enjoy:

"On New Year's you just eat black-eyed peas, with a dime under your plate, an' wear a pair of red garters, an' you'll have good luck the whole year".

So all of you have a very Happy New Year's Day~and don't forget to eat your black-eyed peas! (And if you happen to have a pair of red garters....:)

Merry Christmas

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).

Wishing all of my blogging friends a wonderful, beautiful, Merry Christmas!!

Wednesday Wives Tales~Christmas

These are not necessarily Ozark/Ouachita Mountain superstitions, but I thought that they were interesting.

To prevent your family from having a quarrel on Christmas day, everyone must place their shoes side by side on Christmas Eve night.

To have good luck during the following year, take three sips of salt water before eating your Christmas dinner.

And I was happy to find a Christmas superstition that goes with the 'dumb supper' ritual:

The dumb cake was made at midnight on Christmas Eve. It is prepared in complete silence by bachelors and spinsters. The baker of each cake left their initials on the upper surface of the cake--(I guess after it was done?). If their silence remained unbroken throughout the night, the future partner was believed to come and leave their initials on the cake. If one walked backwards to bed after eating dumb cake, a dream about a future spouse was sure to visit them.

Merry Christmas!

Only Four More Days!

Have you made your list and checked it twice? The big day is coming up fast, isn't it? I still have some things to prepare around the house. We are having a pork roast on Christmas Day, so that still has to come out of the freezer--probably tomorrow.

I hope you are all on schedule!


Here are a few of our Santas that I thought I'd share with you.