Look in any patisseries this time of year, and you will
see the gateaux specially prepared for the “Fete des Rois”. It is a tart like cake, filled with a
fig/almond paste (quite delicious!) or a brioche ring (sweet bread) topped with
candied fruit.
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| photo courtesy of http://wellskint.blogspot.com |
The festival takes place around Jan 6th, the
twelfth day of Christmas, when the wise men visited baby Jesus. According to
tradition, the ‘galette des rois’, was to "draw the kings" to the
Epiphany.
La Fête des Rois is still very much a family tradition. A
’fève’ (a bean) is baked inside
the cake and the cake is shared around the table. Whoever receives the fève is then crowned king or queen for
the day and has the much coveted opportunity of bossing the rest of the family
about! That same person can also choose someone to be their king or queen.
We went to a French family's home on Sunday afternoon to partake in the "Galette des Rois"--King Cake.
The youngest member had to go under the table and call out everyone's name to delegate who gets what slice of cake! Noah was the youngest, and so under he went. Hidden in one slice of the cake is a "feve" (bean). Special privileges are given to those who find the bean. The little girl, Ombeiline, found the bean, and received the first crown. Ombeiline could also chose to crown a king and she picked Noah!
I think this is one tradition we may bring home from France with us! It was a fun afternoon.
That sounds so cool!
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