La Fete Des Rois

Hey Pals,

This blog post is about another little French tradition, that I have had the opportunity to partake in and Celebrate. La Fête des Rois is a traditional festive French Holiday celebrated on the first weekend of January. The first Sunday of January is known as 'Le Jour des Rois' (the day of the Kings), this day falls on the 6th of January. 

La Fête des Rois is a Celebration marking the arrival of the 3 wise men in Bethlehem, who would present Jesus with the gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myhrr. It's another opportunity for families to get together and enjoy a spectacular feast. The must-have dessert for La Fete des Rois is LA Galletes des Rois (the cake of kings) (pictured above, photo sourced from the internet). The Gallete is actually a puff pastry cake filled with frangipane (almond based cream), fruit is often added or even chocolate, apple is the most popular amongst my family and friends. 

Every family or group of friends would sit down and cut the cake between them and have an extra slice called la part du pauvre (the poor man's slice) ready and waiting for the next person who may stop by. When tucking into this delicacy you have to be careful, because hidden in each cake is a fève (a bean). In the olden days, the fève of the rich would be a trinket or little figurine representing the nativity, and the fève of the poor would be a bean. Nowadays the fève is a little trinket or figurine of different shapes, sizes and colour. If you are lucky enough to get the fève, (and don't choke on it) you will be crowned king/queen for the day. As the king/queen, you get to wear a gold crown (often a paper crown) and everyone has to do as you wish. Everyone will cheer and if you're at home there'll probably be some champagne flowing (and a non-alcoholic version for the little ones). You also have the opportunity to choose a king/queen to join you in your day of leisure and royal treatment should you want to. 

This tradition is kind of a big deal, and every January at primary and secondary school, we would be given a slice of la Gallete and every child wanted to be crowned king or queen. I was lucky to be queen once and I was also once chosen to be someone's queen, which was sweet. It's a fun tradition that gets everyone of all ages involved and every year different bakeries put on beautiful displays of extravagant original versions of the galette. 

I've got to stop this blog post here because I'm actually salivating, I haven't had a slice of Galette des Rois in over 6 years but I can still remember the taste. 

I'm off to bake a gallete, Thanks for Reading, hope you enjoyed this blog post. 

XO