In France, they have a big holiday which we call “Epiphany” which takes place the 6th of January. Here it is also “Epiphany” but instead it is called “Les Rois Mages.” This means,” The Wise Men.”
In the USA we just sort of have a day. But here they actually celebrate it with a tradition. They make a “galette”(a cake) that contains an almond sort of paste. It is delicious. This cake is more rare in the South of France but very common in the North. In the South it is more likely to be a brioche with candied fruit and large morsels of sugar on top. Inside of them all there is a figurine and an almond or some kind of nut or bean. When you eat the cake, you want to be the one who gets the figurine in your piece and you do not want to get the bean.
The tradition is done like this:
-The youngest person at the celebration goes under the table
-The lady of the house cuts the brioche into pieces and points to ANY piece of her choice
-The child below the table calls out the name of one of the guests and whichever piece the hostess is pointing to goes to the named person
-Whoever gets the figurine in their slice is the
King/Queen of the day.
-The person who gets the nut or bean has to buy the
Brioche for the next 6th of January!
We celebrated this day with a luncheon at our home with a nice, friendly French family that we know well. Also they are the owners of our favorite restaurant in all of Aix, Pasta Cosy! At the restaurant, Cecile is the cook and Fabien is the waiter and comedian! They have two children Maelle(4 years) and Edward(7 years.)
Cecile of course brought a galette! When she served it, Fabien got the figurine and unfortunately the Boulangerie forgot to put in the bean in the galette.
So Fabien got to choose his queen and/or princesses!
This was the turn out: Three princesses and one bandit!
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