King Cake

My wife hails from Louisiana. Some friends here in Virginia who are also from Louisiana gifted us with a King Cake earlier this week.

According to the box... "The King Cake has been associated with the Mardi Gras season for many years. The season begins on January 6th, known as the Epiphany, the day the three Wise Men of the East, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, found the baby Jesus."

(Okay, there is so much wrong with this story. the fact that three gifts were mentioned doesn't mean there were three kings. The weren't "kings" but Magi, astrologers. Their names are not given in the Bible, but handed down as tradition and are probably fictitious. Jesus was no longer an infant, but rather a toddler by the time the Magi arrived. Okay, now that I got that off my chest, back to the King Cake.)

"The King Cake reminds us of this day by its shape, color and decoration. Its oval shape represents the unity of all Christians. (okay, we can pretend) The colors purple, gold and green stand for justice, power and faith, respectively.

A small baby doll, bean or coin is hidden inside the cake to symbolize the finding of the baby Jesus. whoever finds this symbol in their slice of cake traditionally buys the King Cake for the next celebration."

We're down to the last two slices and still no baby.