Happy
New Year, everyone! In honor of the new year, I decided to learn
about some of the very strange and amusing traditions of my fellow
Pennsylvanians. Starting with the one I grew up with and remember,
pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. I've never been a fan of
sauerkraut and after learning how it's made, I like it less.
Sauerkraut
is made from cabbage that ferments in brine for six to eight weeks.
The lore behind sauerkraut is that the green of it brings a long life
and luck with money. The reason we do sauerkraut is because the
cabbage crops would be taken in right around this time of year.
Apparently, pork is cooked because we want to be like the pigs and
root forward to the new year. Chicken would be the opposite because
they scratch backward.
I
also learned about the weird things we drop or raise at Midnight on
New Year's Eve. Some I already knew, for instance Harrisburg drops a
strawberry and Hershey raises a kiss. Dillsburg lowers a pickle. But
there were so many other objects I didn't know about!
Carlisle
drops a car, in honor of all the car shows that Carlisle hosts.
Kennett Square, the self-proclaimed mushroom capital of the world,
drops a mushroom. Pittsburgh raises a ball made out of recycled
materials in order to show they want to be a green city.Mechanicsburg
drops a wrench. I didn't know Mechinicsburg was actaully named that
because of all the mechanics who settled and founded the city!
A
place I now want to visit is Shenandoah where they lower pierogi and
kielbasa! Shenandoah has an early drop time so you can take your
kids. Lancaster and York both drop roses and here's something I find
very interesting that I already knew. In England there was the war of
the roses between the red rose house of Lancaster and and white rose
house of York, so now Lancaster lowers a red rose and York lowers a
white.
Lebanon
lowers a 16 foot piece of Lebanon bologna, which I also want to see!
Another one I would visit is Bethlehem, home of the marshmallow
peeps, they drop a peep and like Shenandoah, they have an early drop
for the kids to join in. Pottsville is home to Yuengling Lager,
raises a giant beer bottle as a toast for the new year. Beavertown
has a beaver mascot called Bucky who lowers from the sky at midnight.
A
town called McClure drops a kettle every year to honor their Bean
Soup Festival and Fair. In Duncannon they drop a sled, modeled after
the Lightning Guider sled that was made in Duncannon from 1904 to
1990.
No
matter what you drop or who you're with I wish everyone a happy new
year!
Sources:
Abrams, Mark 2017 December 29 Unique New Year's Eve Traditions Found in PA Towns
Orso, Anna 2015 December 31 Pork and Sauerkraut on New Year's Day: Why the PA Dutch believe it's your luckiest meal of the year
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