Today is Kings Day in France. It celebrates the visit of the three Wise Kings to Jesus.
Monique from France wrote…
Friends generally gather to share a galette or a royaume (kingdom, that’s the way the King’s Cake, a ring cake without filling, is called in Southern France). The one who finds the trinket inside the cake has to buy another cake, then the group gathers again and so on. We eat it with cider or sparkling wine or pétillant de raisin. We may do that at our working place too. That’s why you can find cakes for sale long after January 6th.
Here’s a photo of a royaume from southern France…
This tradition is also celebrated in Quebec and New Orleans.
Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for the photo and the interesting commentary.
This article was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2006 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Canada, Countries & Cultures, Desserts, Epiphany, France, Galettes des Rois or Kings Cake, Holidays Around the World, La fête des rois or Kings Day, Royaume, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
2 Responses to ““La fête des rois” or Kings Day in France”
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August 18th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Hello,
The one who finds the trinket becomes the king (or queen) for a day. He has to wear a pretty crown (in gold paper) and he (or she) has to find a queen (or a king) around the table, giving her (or him) a similar crown. Then he (or she) has to give a kiss at the queen (or the king).
Hugues
July 29th, 2010 at 11:43 am
[…] an almond/butter filling called frangipane. In the south of France, King’s Cake is called a royaume and is made in the shape of a ring, representing a crown, and topped with glazed fruit and icing. […]