6 Unwritten Rules of Dinner on the Grounds at a Mississippi Church Homecoming

Nobody hands you a rulebook when you walk up to your first church homecoming.

Everybody else just seems to know what to do.

Many Mississippi churches welcome newcomers, and knowing what to expect makes the day easier.

Here are the unwritten rules of dinner on the grounds at a Mississippi church homecoming, so you can walk in like you’ve done it before.

1. Dish and Chair

Rocky Springs United Methodist Church asked visitors to bring a covered dish to share and lawn chairs for everyone in their party, the Vicksburg Post reported in 2010.

Bring the dish in a pan you don’t mind leaving behind.

Then claim a patch of shade before the line forms.

2. Service First, Then Dinner

A 2011 Vicksburg Post item said a dinner on the grounds would follow the homecoming service at Rocky Springs.

The Natchez Democrat listed a 3 p.m. service and a dinner on the grounds about 4 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Church Hill in 2018.

Readers were also told to join the afternoon rain or shine.

The service comes first, so you wait.

3. Fried Chicken and Potato Salad

A writer in the Commercial Dispatch expected three or four platters of fried chicken and at least six bowls of potato salad at Forest Grove Presbyterian Church in Ofahoma.

The potato salad varied, from mayonnaise-heavy to mustard-yellow, with eggs or without.

The Mississippi Encyclopedia lists fried chicken and ham among the offerings households bring to Southern family reunions.

Both name fried chicken for the table.

A spread might also include barbecue with baked beans and coleslaw, or fried fish with hush puppies.

Church Hill’s 2018 dinner promised ham, turkey and cornbread dressing.

4. Open Invitation

The Church Hill invitation welcomed readers who had never visited Christ Episcopal Church. It told you to add a salad, veggie, or dessert if you wished.

Elkhorn Primitive Baptist Church in Kilmichael said its homecoming events were free and open to the public, according to The Mississippi Link.

The lineup included a Saturday picnic with games and a 3 p.m. Sunday homecoming service.

5. Same Sunday Every Year

Rocky Springs held its homecoming on the third Sunday of April before the church closed.

Its final homecoming was set for 11 a.m., with music from the Rocky Springs Band.

The Star-Herald in Kosciusko reported in 2021 that Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Attala County marks the third Sunday in October each year.

If you’re new, ask a neighbor which Sunday it is.

6. Roots in the Church

A Commercial Dispatch writer described homecoming as a Sunday set aside every year for families with roots in a church to come home.

At Rocky Springs, the event was also for returning former members and the extended church family.

The Rocky Springs church grew up around a natural stopping point on the old Natchez Trace.

Descendants of the earliest Attala County settlers return to the Pleasant Ridge church and cemetery, the 2021 report said.

Food Safety and the Two-Hour Clock

Food safety at a dinner on the grounds is written down, and it applies to any gathering where food sits out.

The Mississippi State Department of Health's gathering guide sets a two-hour safe limit for unrefrigerated food.

Keep hot foods at 140°F or warmer and cold foods at 40°F or colder.

On a hot day of 90°F or higher, that limit drops to one hour.

Cook chicken to an internal temperature of at least 165°F.

To keep dishes cold, nest serving dishes in bowls of ice.

Leftovers shouldn't wait more than two hours after preparation to go in the refrigerator.

Keep an eye on your dish.

Dinner on the Grounds at Family Reunions

Churches host more than homecomings, and the Mississippi Encyclopedia says homes are by far the most popular setting for Southern family reunions, followed by churches.

Dinner on the grounds in the churchyard, with food piled on tablecloth-covered makeshift tables, is a happy memory of family reunions for many Southerners.

Each participating household brings versions of its best offerings of food and drink.

Southern family reunions usually have no programs.

All-Day Singings With Dinner on the Grounds

Mississippi's weekend singing conventions became known as all-day singings with dinner on the grounds.

A 1938 guide described baskets of food spread in long, shady rows beneath the trees at an all-day singing.

A sketch has families bringing lunch and pallets for the babies, then going outside at midday for dinner on the grounds.

The University of Mississippi's page on a Taylor singing at Taylor Methodist Church in Lafayette County asks local residents to bring a dish to share.

Its schedule runs singing from 10 a.m., then a potluck dinner, then more singing until 2:30 p.m.

Sacred Harp singings are often associated with church homecomings and memorials.