King's Day, 2017

In New Orleans and quite a few places around the world January 6th was a special day. It was Twelfth Night, Epiphany, or King's Day. Take your pick of names, but making January 6th special is a Catholic and to some degree, a Protestant religious thing . In some places, the day is known as “Three Kings Day” after the wise men, or Magi, who, the Bible says, brought the infant Jesus gifts and proclaimed him the Son of God. In other places, the day is known as the Epiphany, a day is for giving gifts, for extremely cold baths and for biting into "King cakes", which is a New Orleans obsession.

Celebrating the baptism of a baby, even if the baby is named Jesus, is not the most exciting thing to do. That's why some Catholics in Europe, Mexico, New Orleans and other Catholic centered places make "King's Day" the first day to eat King Cake.  As a life-long resident of New Orleans until 2011, and King Cake fan, I am having pangs of hunger for a King cake. But alas! Portland, Oregon, my current home, is like most of the rest of the world. It has no idea that King Cake should be eaten from January 6th until Mardi Gras Day, this year.

Therefore, bakeries and people at home make King Cake, a pastry with a tiny figurine of a baby (usually it is a plastic baby or a bean to represent the baby Jesus) baked into the dough. the King cakes some in many flavors and styles. I like the French Almond cream filled pastry form almost as much as the danish like dough filled ones so popular in New Orleans. The idea of stashing a baby inside is not to promote cannibalism, it is that the baby will be revealed in a slice or a bite of bread, just as Jesus was revealed as the Son of God to the kings.

Catholics in New Orleans have taken the king cake to a new level. Bakeries all over the city offer elaborate, frosted, fruit or creme filled confections, all baked with a plastic baby on the inside. Customers eat them throughout the season of Epiphany, indulging right up to Ash Wednesday, which is the end of Mardi Gras (carnival).  On January 6th one can stand in line at his or her favorite bakery and purchase a King cake for family, friends or co workers to  dive into. Whomever gets the slice with the baby has to buy the next King cake. This goes on until Ash Wednesday, which falls each year 47 days before Easter Day. People do get fatter during this time, but they have more fun.

Besides eating King Cake, some places hold their first Mardi Gras parades on January 6th, a way of kicking off the carnival season. The streets are now subject to the first masking and carnival costume of Carnival season.  I like this tradition, but then, I am born and bred of many traditions, given I am from the city of New Orleans that is among the most traditional in the United States. How tradition crazy am I (I know I am just plain crazy, but I am talking tradition crazy here)? This year, January 6th, 2017, I carried on the King Cake ritual by reaching into my home freezer and pulling out a piece of King Cake that I saved for this year from my trip to New Orleans at Mardi Gras, 2016. It was tasty and my "holy day of obligation" to King's Day was fulfilled.

Now....if I just had more King Cake in my freezer.....