Today is January 6th, Ephiphany. In France they have a special cake, galette des rois, kings' cake, with a hidden figurine inside the pastry. The person who finds the figurine is king for the day.My friend Klara came (six hours by train!) to visit me for the weekend, and we took the tram to France to get our kings' cake. This morning we went to the Epiphany service and then came home and had lunch and ate our cake. I was queen!
I didn't know this, but traditionally you leave one piece of the cake uneaten, which is the piece "du Bon Dieu", God's piece, the piece for the virgin or for the poor. And then the next person who comes to visit gets it. I just love traditions like this! It's just unbelievable...even though Europe really isn't as religious as the US, they keep all these great traditions.
Little known fact: Epihpany is also known as "Do You Love Your Molars?" Day. Unsuspecting participants are encouraged to bite down into what they think is going to be a soft apple cake. But then, they bite something hard! And it hurts! Hooray!
ReplyDeleteThis cake wouldn't work too well in the US...it reminds me of the German candy egg (you know, the one with the small choke-on-able toy on the inside) that was quickly pulled off shelves over here. ;)
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