Epiphany

6th January, or Epiphany, is the day the three wise men arrived bearing gifts for the baby Jesus, guided by the star of Bethlehem. In France they like to set up nativity scenes, and today they will place the three wise figures around the crib. As with any celebration there is something to eat, and the French people create or buy galette des rois - the Kings cake. As you would have seen on yesterday’s blog, it’s a flaky pastry case filled with almonds and they put a ‘fève’ inside. This used to be a bean, but is now a china figure of some sort. Whoever finds the bean in their slice gets to wear the king’s crown for the day. Just be careful not to break a tooth on the féve or worse still swallow it. Nowadays if children are going to get a piece of galette they will often use a piece of orange skin instead. Normally the youngest member at the table will chose who the slices are given to.