King Cake info for Sophia
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| Tue, 01-13-2009 - 9:33am |
I stole this from the Southern Friends board:
The history of the King Cake began in 12th century France where the cake would be baked on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings. A small token was hidden in the cake as a surprise for the finder.
But the origins go back a little further than that and as you would guess, it has something to do with the catholic church.
The King's Cake has its roots in pre-Christian religions of Western Europe. Part of the Harvest celebrations that the pagans practiced was the sacrifice ritual. It was customary to choose a man to be the "sacred king" of the tribe for a year. That man would be treated like a king for the year, then he would be sacrificed, and his blood returned to the soil to ensure that the harvest would be successful. The method of choosing who would have the honor of being the sacred king was the purpose of the King's Cake. Several men of the tribe, would eat of the cake

You're very welcome!
Wow, that's really interesting! I had no idea they had such a long and interesting history, since I've never heard of them. I feel really uninformed and stupid not to be familiar with them, but then---I've never been to New Orleans, as much as I'd love to go.
I wonder if I could look at bakeries around here and find a King Cake. They sound so yummy I'd like to try one!
Thanks so much for posting that!
You're very welcome--glad I could help!