La galette des rois

January 6. It was my third day at the Puissant household and we were having dinner, fabulous as usual. Besides the usual five of us (Madame and Monsieur Puissant, myself, and the two other students), the Puissant's son, Sylvan and his two children, Elliot, 8, and Victoire, 4, joined us. I, of course, enjoy having the children around as not only are they well behaved but I can actually speak to them and nearly converse on their level. Elliot especially likes to talk to me as he loves American basketball and since I seem tallish to him he imagines that I must be a pretty good player. I did impress him by explaining that I went out for my junior high school basketball team and was cut after the first week. Of course, he may have been impressed because of a miscommunication with my pronounciation of junior high being confused for the NBA.

As we cleared from the table the main course dishes we could smell something wafting in from the oven--some sort of cake was baking. Madame Puissant took it from the oven and placed a golden brown frangipane (you look it up) on the table. The children became very excited and Monsieur Puissant had an impish gleam in his eye and all the French present started speaking at once. I caught none of it. Clearly, something important was being explained to me but I had no idea what it was--perhaps a birthday? A celebration of my arrival? I smiled and nodded, hoping for the best (at some point, if I continue doing this I am going to end up having to wear a puffy shirt to school).

Madame Puissant cut the frangipane into eight slices and served us. While I am not that enamored of sweets I did gobble mine down. However, I noticed that Victoire became very excited--inside her slice of frangipane was a porcelain figurine of one of France's most beloved monarchs, Henri IV. Once she produced her figurine (about 3/4 inch high) Madame Puissant produced a paper crown and "crowned" Victoire to the applause of the others at the table...

"La galette de rois" is an old French tradition that began in Roman times, circa the Fourth Century. Originally, a baker placed a pea in a round, sun-shaped piece of bread that would be baked until golden. A group would share the bread or cake at the feast of the Saturnalia in winter. It was in honor of the god Saturn and the finder of the pea would have special peace and prosperity. This tradition continued over the years with the Christian church syncretically adopting this (as Christianity also grafted other traditions onto itself for legitimacy's sake) as their own, changing this into a Christian celebration of Epiphany during the early Middle Ages, celebrating the "Three Wise Men" as Kings and the pea representing Jesus. Later, probably during and after the Renaissance, the French monarchy comes to be celebrated instead with the pea (be it a piece of gold or enamel or porcelain) symbolizing the king (le roi) within the galette (the cake). Hence, the "crowning" after one finds the King, or some other royal symbol, in the cake. Great Royalist propaganda! January 6 is the day now celebrated by this tradition, though, to be sure, the cakes are still seen for the next couple of weeks.

Of course, this was what had been explained to me at dinner, in briefer terms, as I nodded like a simpleton. I was pretty fortunate that the Henri IV was not in my slice of galette as I had gobbled my down like a longshoreman. Two things could have happened if it had been in mine: a few cracked teeth and an emergency visit to a French dentist or a swallowing of it whole and a unpleasant wait the next few days.