The season of Carnival (which some call the season of Epiphany) ushers in the practice of offering a king cake at parties and gatherings in south Louisiana. The king cake or gateau du roi is a tradition associated with the celebration of feast of the Epiphany in south Louisiana, French Canada, and France. The local cake is actually a loaf twisted into a circle and then iced and sprinkled with sugar colored purple, green, and gold, the official colors of Mardi Gras.
At king cake gatherings, whoever gets the small baby Jesus hidden somewhere in the cake must provide the king cake at the next scheduled gathering. The bakers no longer put the baby in the cake because of concerns about litigation by people who choke on it, swallow it, or break a tooth. The buyer assumes the liability of putting the baby in the cake...or not.
The funniest commentary I've seen on the baby as choking or swallowing hazard is from blogger Blondius Maximus.
One of my New year's resolutions is to learn something new every day.
ReplyDeleteToday, this is it. Thanks!
Glad to be of service, 8thday. :-)
DeleteWe had 3 babies in our cake - the Mexican version, Rosca de Reyes - not so much frosting. The clergy were the ones who got them - now we have to make tamales for Feb 2 - the Feast of the Presentation.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I had not heard of the Mexican/Spanish tradition which seems quite similar.
DeleteOK. This is very, very bad humor BUT... If we were to offer this up at the Epiphany Service as THE BREAD we wouldn't have to worry about the plastic Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks yummy-delicious.
Ha ha. If memory serves, the dolls were made of china when I was a child.
DeleteBaked a pair of them today, with pecan/raisin filling. Everyone liked them.
ReplyDeleteI've never tasted pecan/raisin filling, but it sounds yummy. Glad they turned out well.
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