January 6th twelve days after December 25th, is Three Kings Day often called the Twelfth Night, the day that the three wise men arrived into town and brought gifts to baby Jesus. The legendary visit later gave rise to the custom of gift giving at Christmas on the Feast of the Epiphany.
In many countries around the world friends and families will gather together and celebrate Three Kings day with a special cake. These King cakes became popular in New Orleans after the Civil War, when Twelfth Night revelers would hold a ball. During the event, a special prize would be baked into the cake. The lady who ate the piece of cake with the prize inside was elected Queen of the Ball. Years Later, this tradition become a family event, where one neighborhood family would get the ball rolling by hosting a king cake party on Twelfth Night and serve the treat, baking a toy into the dough. Whoever got the piece with the baby inside was predicted to have a year of good luck and in charge of hosting the next party!
Traditional King Cake colors are:
Purple – to symbolize Justice
Green – to symbolize Faith
Gold – to symbolize Power
This year, Why not gather family and friends and start your own king cake party tradition with on of these two Kings Cake recipes to continue on the celebration of the Birth of Jesus.
Easy King Cake Knots
we found this simple recipe over at Plain Chicken – we also discovered step by step instructions for the same recipe over at My Hearts Desire Recipes.
