All over the world, people gather for festive twelfth
night celebrations.
Twelfth Night is when the coming of the wise men
bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated.
This celebration is called Ephipany, Little
Christmas, or the Twelfth Night. One of the most
popular customs in this celebration of giving gifts is the
baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings -
a King's Cake.
Hidden inside the cake is either a bean or plastic baby.
The tiny plastic baby represents the Christ Child.
The person receiving it must portray one of the kings.
It was originally served only on January 6th (Twelfth
Night), but is now celebrated here starting on the
twelfth night after Christmas and continues through Mardi Gras,
the day before Ash Wednesday (when the Lenten season begins)
which is throughout the entire carnival season.
It is said that the lucky person who gets the baby will
have good fortune for the year. The recipient then
continues the festivities by having another party or
bringing another cake. In the U.S., cakes are brought
to offices, school, meetings and parties, and
the person finding the baby in their piece must bring a
king cake the next day.
The first cakes were a simple ring of dough with little
decoration. The New Orleans-style cake is brightly
decorated with Mardi Gras colored sugars and icing and
pieces of fruit with cinnamon inside, pecans,
cream cheese, or any assortment of fruit fillings.
Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint my masterpiece.
Beoracha wrote:UPS just delivered our king cake straight from Louisiana. Half is blueberry cream cheese and half is raspberry cream cheese. It is sooo good.
Oh, we get ours from New Orleans! A good friend of ours sends one to us every year. We didn't get the fruity one this year though. And I didn't get the baby, so no queen for the day (or principessa for that matter) for me this year
We get the baby separately but the cake is half gone before we think about putting it in. Our friend usually throws in some beads too. Green ones this time.
"Pipes, fiddles, men of no valour, bone-players and pipe-players; a crowd hideous, noisy, profane, shriekers and shouters"-"The Fair of Carman" in The Book of Leinster, c. 1160 A.D.
"Pipes, fiddles, men of no valour, bone-players and pipe-players; a crowd hideous, noisy, profane, shriekers and shouters"-"The Fair of Carman" in The Book of Leinster, c. 1160 A.D.
Nanohedron wrote:
Oh my. I have to fan myself......
I know how you feel, I felt the same way when I saw those shoes... it was a happy day when they came home with me.
Those are really cool shoes ad. I have some Doc clogs which I think are cool, but I don't have any open toed ones that would just scream for midnight blue toenails. Now I want to get my toenails painted.....I think I have some red in the medicine cabinet....
Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint my masterpiece.
izzarina wrote:
Those are really cool shoes ad. I have some Doc clogs which I think are cool, but I don't have any open toed ones that would just scream for midnight blue toenails. Now I want to get my toenails painted.....I think I have some red in the medicine cabinet....
Doc clogs-- nice. I'd love a pair. Most of my shoes seem to be open-toed, kind of a bummer in the wintertime. I cannot wait for Spring to spring so that I can justifiably go shoe-shopping. I have my eyes on a cute, cute, cute pair of strappy heels... saving my pennies.
Tell us something.: This is the first sentence. This is the second of the recommended sentences intended to thwart spam its. This is a third, bonus sentence!
aderyn_du wrote: I have my eyes on a cute, cute, cute pair of strappy heels... saving my pennies.
Can you walk in those? Since childhood I've had this sense that I might, someday, get caught up in an apocalyptic adventure which will require me to be fully mobile, and I can't bring myself to wear anything I can't move in.
Also, I have the world's weirdest to fit feet, and that's very limiting.
aderyn_du wrote: I have my eyes on a cute, cute, cute pair of strappy heels... saving my pennies.
Can you walk in those? Since childhood I've had this sense that I might, someday, get caught up in an apocalyptic adventure which will require me to be fully mobile, and I can't bring myself to wear anything I can't move in.
Also, I have the world's weirdest to fit feet, and that's very limiting.
Give me a pair of heels, and by golly, I'll walk in 'em-- even if they don't fit. In case of apocalyptic adventure, kick off heels and run.
Speaking of running in heels, why is it that in tv and movies the women keep their heels on while running from the bad guy/monster? They always trip or twist their ankle and end up getting caught. I'm forever yelling at them, "Kick the damn heels off, sister, then run like hell!" Unless of course you are good at doing martial arts in spike heels and can aim a very strategic, well-placed kick.
Flyingcursor wrote:What is the purpose and origin of Carnival/Mardi Gras? I can't figure out how debauchery fits into the scheme.
Lacking a theologian hat, I'll hazard that the basic idea was to get it all out of your system before the long long long long long penitence set in. Or it was to give yourself something to be sorry (therefore penitent) about when you woke up the next day and realised what you'd done.
King Cakes. Ech. I'm sure they taste fine; I just can't get past the colors of the icing. Looks poisonous.
Mardi Gras / Carnivale, etc. is to eat up all the food, drink all the alcohol, etc. and get it out of the house before entering Lent and the fasting and abstinance that comes with it.
Or it's just another excuse for a party!!
On the King Cake I made - the frosting was white, I put green, purple and yellow colored sugar on it.
