La Fête des Rois, Feast of the Kings
Galette des Rois
Today is the feast of the Epiphanie (literally “revelation”) celebrating the travels of the three Magi, or Kings of the Orient, who followed a star to Bethlehem to visit Jesus a few days after the Nativity.
French Christmas celebrations conclude with the Epiphanie, and with the consumption of vast quantities of galettes des Rois, like the one to the left. They are made of puff pastry filled with marzipan. Each galette is sold with a gilded or silver cardboard crown and contains a fève (“fava bean.”) The fève is no longer a dry bean, but now consists in some decorative charm. My favorites are miniature Nativity scene figures. One must, of course, chew carefully not to break a tooth on the fève. For many more pictures of luscious galettes des Rois, I refer you to Paris Breakfasts.
When the galette is split between family members or friends, the person who draws the slice containing the fève becomes King or Queen, dons the cardboard crown and chooses a consort among the company. I must report that people cheat upon this occasion. For one thing, the galettes des rois are so delicious that they are eaten weeks before and after the actual celebration of the Epiphanie. Also, when the company comprises little ones, the person cutting the galette des Rois will always slyly try to locate the fève through the crust to give the winning slice to one of the children. I won’t name any names, but I know of a certain boy who was so delighted with his royal rank that he would keep the crown firmly planted on his head for the rest of the day and even refuse to take it off to go to bed.
This custom can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and may be older. Even the French Revolution could not defeat the popular affection for this festivity. To illustrate this post, a painting by Greuze, depicting a family of peasants partaking of a galette des Rois .
Greuze epiphany Gateau des Rois
PDF 13 Comments to “La Fête des Rois, Feast of the Kings”
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What a lovely tradition and certainly so much fun for young and old alike. Thanks for another interesting post- I love the painting too.
Lovely informative post Catherine!
MERCI
Lucy – True, there’s no age limit to enjoy this tradition.
And Carol – Your pictures of galettes were so wonderful that I could almost taste them!
Lovely Post! We too (we are from Argentina) celebrate this holiday. Each child gets three small gifts (just like the magi gave) and we also have a dessert with the “magic Bean” as my nephew calls it. He always loves being King for the day. Since my Mother passed away we really have not celebrated, I should bring back the tradition in our family. We also leave all of our decorations up until today, yes, the tree is old, but I think it is symbolic of helping to guide the three Kings along their way. So, tomorrow my decorations from the holidays come down. Lovely post, you brought back many beautiful memories to me ~Thank you~
Judith~
That looks and sounds so good I’m drooling through the computer screen.
The hidden charm part sounds like our King’s Cakes on Mardi Gras!
Judith – Those Argentinian traditions sound wonderful, and they will make great memories for your children.
Eva – Those galettes are just as good as the look! And maybe those King’s Cakes are of French origin…
Hey Catherine – I’m really loving the painting by Grueze. Thanks for the post. It seems (to me) that the message it conveys is that spirituality (belief) & faith transcends plight & position.
Today in the Greek Orthodox Church we celebrate the name Fotis (Frank) which means “The Light/Fos.”
thanks for sharing this. as soon as i saw the NY Times article today on the Harlem(a NYC neighborhood) 3 Kings parade, i thought of you and this blog.
Felio – There’s a character named Photis in my second novel..
Penny – I didn’t know of the Three King Harlem Parade. Thanks for bringing it my attention!
If it is the “King” William , this is so so cute…
je vous souhaite une excellente annee et surtout une bonne santee, best.
Ah, Marie-Helene, I can’t hide anything from you. Bonne annee to you to!
Very interesting Catherine, happy new year! Btw I just nominated you for an award on my blog http://anecasworld.blogspot.com/
This is wonderful! Thank you so much, Ana, and a happy 2009 to you too. I will proudly add this to my sidebar.