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Mardi
Gras or Fat Tuesday signifies the final day of the
Carnival season and is always held on the Tuesday before
Ash Wednesday. The Carnival season officially begins
on the “Twelfth Night” or “Epiphany”.
This is the day that we remember the wise men visiting
Jesus. (And the day you are supposed to take your tree
down)
A Mardi
Gras King Cake is baked on January sixth to start the
Carnival Season. The cake is round in shape to represent
the circular route taken by the Wise Men so King Herod
could not follow them to Christ. A tiny plastic baby is
placed inside each Mardi Gras King Cake as a symbol of
this Holy Day. The first celebration of Carnival would be
held on January 6th where the King Cake would
be sliced and served. Each person would look to see if
they received the plastic baby in their slice of cake.
The person with the baby is named King for a Day and is
now expected to host the next party and provide another
King Cake.
The
Europeans hide a bean inside their cake instead of a baby
and the person receiving the bean must portray one of the
kings.
New
Orleans and the surrounding area bakeries are saturated
with King Cakes throughout carnival as if it were pumpkin
pie at thanksgiving. These creative bakeries have taken
the traditional recipe of Danish dough with cinnamon and
sugar and have added many new flavors and fillings. Most
are still braided and formed into rings and then decorated
in the royal colors of Purple, Green and Gold. |
