I was raised in the Deep South. I have never heard of "pounding," at least not in the context of consumables. Lately, it is a term I associate with my alma mater's football team!

Growing up in Maine, I've never heard of it either in terms of a gift. I thought you were flattening chicken or pork loin or something....

Interesting idea though

Alexa

You all knew where MY thoughts went on this one.....

Ha!Ha! My first thought when reading the title was...I wonder what comment Jessy made! LOL

I was raised in MS and I know what a pounding is. I haven't heard the term used in a long time, though.
Lisa

Oh those wacky Protestants!

I've never heard of that tradition either.

I've never heard of it here in Michigan.

I also thought you were going to ask about pounding out chicken breasts or something...

I guess it would sound clumsy if you go metric.

"Let's go 0.45359237 kilogram-ming"

dcarch :-)

Teresa, I have heard of it, as a custom in the past. And as I understand it, it was a type of "shower" for someone moving into their first home, newly wed or not, and the purpose was to stock their pantry. Well, I just googled it and apparently it's not necessarily an old custom. A church in the Pensacola area had given their new pastor a pounding in 2008. I didn't go any further than that.

Then there were the "pie suppers" and "cake walks" that were primarily fund raisers, I think.

Thanks for bringing the "pounding" up.

jude

I haven't heard that term used that way either.

I've never heard of "pounding" but in my German-Russian tradition it's common to give a housewarming basket of...

Bread (May those in your home never go hungry.)
Candle (May you always have light through the darkest times.)
Silver Dollar (May you receive luck and good fortune.)
Sugar (May you always enjoy the sweetness of life.)
Knife (May your home always be protected from intruders.)
Rice (May your home be fertile.)
Salt (May there always be flavor and spice in your life.)
Wine (May you always have joy and never go thirsty.)

Depending on time of year, I often also include a rose bush on it's own roots or daffodil bulbs so there will always be life.

I like the idea of "pounding". Very practical & useful.

/tricia

I'm in Mississippi, and pounding was a familiar part of my childhood long, long ago. I still see or hear of it occasionally, but then we rarely actually "lose" any tradition around here.

That's a new one to me, too. I thought of "pounding the sidewalks", in terms of looking for a job in this lousy economy, and then of pounding to tenderize something.

If you think I am going to say "pounding the meat to tenderize it", you are wrong, because I know Jessy lives here and we don't want to give her any more ammunition.

Love that, Tricia! And around here folks often tape a penny to a new knife when giving so the gift of the knife "won't cut the friendship."

Jude, I think you are right, the pounding was for anyone moving into their first house. Maybe it's more of a Southern regional thing?

Teresa

I do the knife thing, too. Bad luck to give knives as a gift so the recipient has to pay a penny.

I grew up in the North,
Been here for 40+ years now.
Never heard of it in either place.
It does sound like a nice idea, though.

Tricia, I love your tradition!
I'm copying & pasting that for future reference.
Thanks for posting it!

Rusty

And you supply the penny for the recipient to pay back to you. That's how the custom works.

Odd, I never knew that the recipient of the new knife had to pay back the penny! Makes sense though! I wrapped many a new knife with the penny taped to it when I worked at a gourmet retail store.

I "swar" you learn something new here everyday!
Teresa

I do as Johnliu does i.e. supply the penny for the precipitant to "buy" the knife from me.

I have never heard about the bad luck knife thing. That's a new one on me.
Slowlane, whereabouts are you in MS?
Lisa

My grandmother once gave me a knife and a penny and told me lore. Her family was from Missouri and arrived in the US in the early 1700s from Ireland. I wonder where the knife/penny custom began.

I've heard of the knife/penny but it was never done in my family. If giving a purse/wallet as a gift though we always include a dollar so the recepient would never be broke.

/tricia