The Mardi Gras or Carnival season officially begins on January 6th or the “Twelfth Night,” also known to Christians as the “Epiphany.” Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “to show.” Jesus first showed himself to the three wisemen and to the world on this day. As a symbol of this Holy Day, a tiny plastic baby is placed inside each King Cake.
The King Cake tradition is thought to have been brought to New Orleans from France in 1870. A King Cake is an oval-shaped bakery delicacy, crossed between a coffee cake and a French pastry that is as rich in history as it is in flavor. It’s decorated in royal colors of PURPLE which signifies “Justice,” GREEN for “Faith,” and GOLD for “Power.”
These colors were chosen to resemble a jeweled crown honoring the Wise Men who visited the Christ Child on Epiphany. In the past such things as coins, beans, pecans, or peas were also hidden in each King Cake.
Today, a tiny plastic baby is the common prize. At a party,
the King Cake is sliced and served. Each person looks to see if their
piece contains the “baby.” If so, then that person is named “King” for a
day and bound by custom to host the next party and provide the King
Cake.
In Italy the history of Carnival is very ancient . The origins go back, in fact, to when the Saturnals were celebrated in ancient Rome, a festival very similar to today’s Carnival. During this period of banquets and popular festivals, in which all the social canons were overturned, one of the symbols of excess were the frictilia, sweets fried in pork fat, distributed to the crowd on the streets of the city. Apicius, one of the most refined gourmets of ancient times, describes the preparation of the small talk in his “De re coquinaria”: “Pancakes made with eggs and spelled flour, cut into morsels, fried in lard and then dipped in honey”.
Source: History of King Cakes
Source: La Cucina Italiana
Italian phrase of the day
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