Luck to You in the New Year (with Pork & Sauerkraut)

Blog Post by Shayla Carey

Luck, be it good or bad, is a useful psychological impetus in our daily lives.  Never mind that walking under a ladder is unsafe:  it’s unlucky and so we go around it.  For that reason, we probably save ourselves a lot of hurt from falling objects and/or people.  Traditions abound surrounding luck symbols and, without them, I would have had no reason to try pork and sauerkraut—a savory and salty meal best enjoyed mixed with mashed potatoes (in my humble opinion) and accompanied by cold mulled cider.

A fresh ham on display at the
2016 Harvest Days

Because my Southern Pennsylvania-bred husband wants to ensure our family’s good fortune every year, we feast upon pork and sauerkraut every New Year’s Day.  It’s a Pennsylvania German tradition that dates back centuries¹ and, if my husband has anything to do with it, will last for many more years.  The pig as an ancient symbol of luck and was a farm animal in Europe for thousands of years².  It roots forward, grows fast, and to possess many meant the farmer was prosperous and would eat for a long time to come^{3 4}.  It was also a symbol of fertility and was associated with the Welsh goddess Ceridwen⁵ and the Gaulish god Moccus (“pig” is “muc” in Irish, “mochyn” in Welsh, and “moch” in modern Gaulish).  To eat it was to subscribe to the folk notion of “like produces like”¹ and other cultures eat it on New Years’ Day too.  The South eats ham, fatback, and hog’s jowl; Italy makes their pork into sausage, and people in the Philippines, Cuba, Spain, Portuga, Hungary, and Austria eat a suckling pig roasted whole.^{6 7}

Fresh cabbage enjoying a salt bath as it becomes sauerkraut

I, for one, am more of a fan of the luck applied to cabbage, as I could use a little more green in my pocket.  Who doesn’t?  According to German, Irish, and Pennsylvania German lore, cabbage is a symbol of money and consuming it will help you increase your fortune.  This is mainly because of its green color and tendency to resemble folded money when cooked.  For this reason, it shares its lucky distinction with collard greens, kale and chard in the South, and kale in Denmark.  The Croats and Slovaks enjoy their cabbage surrounding meat.⁸  The Pennsylvania Germans ferment it for weeks in a salt brine before eating it, keeping the nutrition in and imparting it with its distinctive salty tang.  Irish Americans enjoy cabbage at other times of the year, too, and, coupled with corned beef, makes for a simple, nutritious, and satisfying meal. ⁹ My family also likes to cook cut up cabbage leaves in the same pot as egg noodles.  They are a great vehicle for butter and parmesan cheese and the dish is a really easy side dish for the winter months, as both noodles and cabbage take the same amount of time to cook.

With pork and cabbage meaning so much to so many cultures, I have to admit that my husband’s family may be on to something.  I certainly do feel lucky to be alive, whole, comfortable, and surrounded by family for the coming year.  In the spirit of wishing you luck in the new year, I leave you with a recipe gleaned from the Landis Valley Cookbook, available at the Landis Valley Museum Store.

Pork and Sauerkraut

3- or 4-pound pork roast

2 baking apples

2 quarts sauerkraut

¼ cup brown sugar (more or less, depending on the tarness of the sauerkraut)

Salt and pepper

Put pork into a large roasting pan, fat side up.  Sear all sides of the meat on top of the stove.  Arrange the sauerkraut on top and around the pork.  Thinly slice the apples and mix with the sauerkraut.  Add brown sugar and stir it well into the sauerkraut.  Add enough water to nearly cover the sauerkraut.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until the meat comes off the bones when stuck with a fork.  Serve with mashed potates.  Julia Lewis, c. 1930

Sources:

¹South Central Pennsylvania Legends & Lore, by David Puglia, page 26.

²For a really interesting article about the history of pig farming in Europe, click on the BBC article, “Pig DNA reveals farming history.”

³Landis Valley Cookbook, Landis Valley Associates, page 131.

⁴”Dead Lucky! What Germans Consider Lucky Charms” by Tatjana Kerschbaumer, Goethe Intitut.

^{5The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain}, by Lewis Spence, page 160.

⁶“New Year’s traditions around the world,” by Nancy Clanton; Atlanta Journal Contitution.

⁷”Lucky Foods for the New Year,” by Lauren Salkeld, Epicurious.

⁸“Lucky Foods for the New Year,” by Annette Foglino, Smithsonian.com.

⁹“Corned Beef and Cabbage:  As Irish as Spaghetti and Meatballs,” by Stephanie Butler, History.com.

Preserving the Fortna Family’s Pumpkin Pie

Blog entry by Joanne Ranck-Dirks

A pair of Fortna White pumpkins

The Heirloom Seed Project is committed to seed preservation.  One piece of the program that brings us joy is sharing these garden heirlooms with others and also knowing that sometimes we’re saving more than seeds!

Last April, a seed order arrived for just one packet of seeds – the Fortna White Pumpkin.  The shipping charge was higher than the price of that one packet of seeds so I pondered how I could increase the value of those seeds to the customer so that she wouldn’t mind paying more in postage that she did for the seeds!  Perhaps sharing the history of the pumpkin could add some value.

Every seed donated to the Heirloom Seed Project is documented in an old card file.  I went digging into the file to learn more of the history of the Fortna While Pumpkin.  It had been donated 25 years ago in 1990 and had been grown by the Fortna families in Franklin and Adams Counties.  It is an unusual white, pear-shaped pumpkin and creamy yellow on the inside.  To my amazement, I saw that it had been donated by the same person who was now ordering the seed!

I sent Sue a quick email and said, “This is your family’s pumpkin!”  She replied, “I am not the farmer my dad was, by any means!!”  I did grow one pumpkin last year and didn’t let the seeds dry as long as I should have, and the seeds molded.”

“So I am extremely grateful that you do the hard work of keeping these heritage seeds alive – if you hadn’t had the seed, it would surely have died out with my generation. (Not to mention that all the extended family would have been so disappointed to not have a Fortna Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving – we all still think it’s the best for pies!)”

Happy Thanksgiving to the Fortna Family.  We hope you enjoy your pie!

Thank God for the Moravians

Guest blog entry by Shayla Carey

Thank God for the Moravians, because if they had not settled in Pennsylvania, Christmas would not be nearly as rich in custom.  Yes, we have many customs that come to us from the Lutherans, as well as the Reformed, Episcopalians, and Catholics, but some of our most precious Christmas traditions came from this group of evangelists whose mission was to spread Christianity to the far reaches of the globe.

In a time when the Quakers and Mennonites surrounding their communities observed Christmas as a solemn holy day, the Moravians rejoiced, coming together as a large family and celebrating the birth of the Christ Child.  Below are some interesting facts about Moravain customs:

• Lovefeast:  Because Christmas was a joyful occasion for them (unlike the Quakers, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and the Pennsylvania German sect people), they held a "Lovefeast," where, amidst bright beeswax candles, members of the congregation mingled and feasted on cakes called streisslers and coffee, tea or chocolate.  The joyful mood was enhanced by music and facilitated the purpose of the feast:  forgiveness of the past year's sins and love for one another.  This feast of forgiveness is not just held on Christmas Eve, though.  Moravians and other denominations have Lovefeasts on other important dates, such as Good Friday and the dates that their congregations were established.  The Christmas Lovefeast is well-known, though, as it draws many visitors from outside denominations.


• The Moravian Star:  This symbol of the birth of Christ started out as a geometry lesson for young boys at the Neisky Moravian School for boys in Saxony, Germany.  It was quickly adopted by the Moravian Church and hangs from the first Sunday of Advent until Epiphany (January 6).  Points on these stars range from six to over 100, but the traditional star has 26.  Bethlehem's 20-feet diam. 91-feet tall star, was first lighted in 1939 by 280 50-watt lamps and was the tallest individual electrical display in the world at the time.  Now, it is lit with 254 LED lights.


• The Christmas Pyramid:  Alfred Shoemaker describes this one best, in his book, Christmas in Pennsylvania: “Christmas pyramids were four-sided frame structures (pyramid shaped, as the name correctly implies), some two to three feet in height.  Placed on tables, they served as a Christmas decoration, being loaded down with cookies, candies, and all sorts of fruit.  Christmas pyramids, incidentally, have a long history in northern and eastern Germany.”  Vangie Roby Sweitzer quotes the Bethlehem Diary in her book, The Moravian Christmas Putz:  Bethlehem Moravians Tell the Story of the Birth of Christ:
  
  

  "Dec. 25, 1747: Early in the morning, right after they got up, we gave our little children in the children's home a surprise, and made them a lovefeast in memory of the Jesus child and his birth in the stable. For that purpose, a few small and large pyramids [the early Moravian version of a Christmas tree] were made with greenery, which were all beautifully laden with lights, and the biggest ones were also decorated with apples and nice verses."



• The Putz: Pronounced like "foots," this is a Moravian take on smaller creche scenes that only feature the holy family. They trace their origins to St. Francis of Assisi, who used the creches, or presepio, to explain the Nativity to the illiterate. Because they were labeled as "graven images" in the Reformation, they were thrown out of the churches. They survived in homes, though, and thrived in the mountainous areas of Germany. Creche figurines were carved by skilled tradesmen and in these isolated places that straddled the Polish/Czech border, the Moravians adopted the custom of building their elaborate scenes. Within the verse quoted above, the writer also describes one of the first putzes, built in 1747 in Bethlehem:
  
  

  "There was also a stable of Bethlehem with the ox and the donkey as well as with the shepherds to whom the good news of his birth was first brought..."

  
  Moravian putz-building has grown since then and neighboring Lititz has an impressive one. According to the Lititz Moravian Church's website, "A diorama 16' long and 6' deep, it depicts the Judean countryside with Bethlehem and the nearby stable as a central scene. On the hillsides are other scenes relating to the coming of the Christ child. On one hill is the Prophet Isaiah whose Old Testament prophecy spoke of a new King form the House of David. Other scenes include the angel's visit to Mary, shepherds in field near Bethlehem, Wise Men coming over the hills from afar, and the scene of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt." Admission to this putz is free and is worth seeing.
  
  
  
  Landis Valley's rather unique putz can trace its origins to an idea floated by staff band board members Cindy Kirby-Reedy, Beth Leensvaart, and Rick Brouse. They wanted to expand the Pennsylvania German Christmas traditions, but didn't want to link it directly to one church (we are owned by the Commonwealth, after all). Rick came up with the idea to build scale models of some of our buildings that could be set within a winter scene. Cindy and Beth ran with the idea and, in 2006, the putz was born. Using Rick's architectural experience, the three build five scale models, each with intricate detail. Though the putz was discontinued for a few years, it has seen a revival thanks to a writing intern (this gal!) who happened to have some artistic talent, as well as some willing and very able friends and family.

Though they are not officially Pennsylvania Dutch, Landis Valley respects the Moravian contributions to Christmas by featuring the delicate paper stars on some of our Christmas trees, as well as crafting our elaborate putz, housed during December in our Education Building. We also welcome the Lititz Moravian Trombone Choir to our Holiday at Landis Valley Bonfire every year. Come see our display of Pennsylvania German (and some Moravian!) customs at Country Christmas Village, Saturdays, December 6 & 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays, December 7 & 14, from noon to 4 p.m.