Barely a week goes by here in France without there being some kind of a holiday, or fête. Very often these are tied to a religious event, a saint's birthday perhaps or, in some instances, their grisly demise. January 6 celebrated two events that I know of: the birthday of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Lorraine, and the Feast of the Epiphany. Joan of Arc's birthday gets pretty skimpy coverage -- maybe because no one is absolutely certain if this is her birthday! -- but the Feast of the Epiphany seems to take over the town for the whole month of January.
You notice it right away at the bakeries, where lavish displays of "galettes" (cakes or wafers) appear front and centre in display cases. Tradition has it that these cakes, and the secret charms hidden within, drew the Three Kings, the Magi, as they followed the Star of Bethlehem to the stable of the Christ child. Their journey lasted 12 days, thus the 12 days of Christmas, ending on the Epiphany, the twelfth night.
The delectable treats consist of super flaky pastry layers with a dense centre of frangipane. Yum!
When you're ready to buy your own Galette des Rois, a gold paper crown is wrapped around it before it's carefully placed in a pretty wax bag that features a handsome looking king.
And so it was that we found ourselves yesterday chez our 4th floor neighbors, Ingrid and Olivier and their five month old baby, Gisèle, at their Fête des Galettes.
As Ingrid carefully cut the galettes into equal slices...
...both Matiis and Elena, from the other 4th floor flat, waited with excitement to see who would find the lucky charm, the "fève" in their slice.
Today, these "fèves" are tiny porcelain figurines. In earlier times, they were, literally, a bean, une fève. In either case, whoever finds the lucky charm is crowned "king" or "queen" for the day and gets to wear the paper crown.
At our party, it was Naïs, their sister, who found the lucky charm, and proudly wore the crown!
Not to be outdone, however, Matiis produced his very own crown that he'd made at school. And since les galettes des rois continue to be offered throughout January, he will no doubt find his own fève before the month is out.
In a new (to me) tradition for "twelfth night", our niece and nephew each year host a delicious dinner with American and French friends at their home here, followed by a reading by all the guests of the entire text of Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night! I last read this play in high school and just loved revisiting it -- as we all munched our way through large slices of scrumptious Galette des Rois! The two are now forever entwined in my mind (and taste buds).
À bientôt!
(Mexican?) Catholics have a similar tradition in which they bake a "Rosca de Reyes". It's a large oval shaped sweet bread with 1 or 2 hidden plastic figurines of the Baby Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThese galettes look tastier though.
Alex E
In Louisiana, Twelfth Night is celebrated with a great party where Three Kings cakes are served. They are frosted or sugar sprinkled with equal paarts gold, green, and purple, the colors of Mardi Gras, and filled with yum,my stuff and charms. Whoever gets the kings charm becomes the host for the next year's Twelfth Night celebration. I love the idea of getting to wear a crown....much mor fun than maybe becoming a party host. Martha
ReplyDeleteJanet, I remember these cakes very well from some of our January trips to Paris. They were everywhere! As I recall, there was a bakery up in your old neighborhood in Montmartre that had a particularly impressive selection. A lovely way to extend the festive holiday season a little longer -- I hate the way it ends so abruptly here at home.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in the Shakespeare connection and read a plot synopsis of Twelfth Night in Wiki (it was not part of my high school curriculum). How interesting that twelfth night is a traditional time for men to dress as women and vice-versa! As it happened, we had some dear old friends over for dinner on Twelfth Night to enjoy the last of the Christmas tree and cookies, and one of them is a woman (a Parisian, no less) who used to be a man. Turns out we were right in keeping with the holiday!
Bonne annee (un peu tard)!
Laurel