Kings Bread

Today we celebrated el dia de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day or the Feast of the Epiphany) with a Rosca de Reyes, a ring shaped bread with a small plastic doll baked inside which is supposed to represent the baby Jesus.

'The day (January 6th) commemorates the Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They travel to Bethlehem, and along the way encounter King Herod, whom they tell of the birth of the new King. Herod orders them to find the baby and return to tell him where the Messiah can be found so that he may pay homage. But after being warned by God in a dream that they shouldn’t return to Herod because he plans to kill the baby, the Three Kings instead return to their own countries another way. The doll in the bread symbolizes the hiding of the infant from King Herod and according to tradition whoever finds the doll in their slice of bread must give a party on February 2nd, el Dia de la Candelaria.'

Sadly we didn’t find one in ours! There was one slice left that we saved for an uncle who wasn’t able to attend because he was working. We’re hoping it’s in his slice, but we have to wait now till tomorrow to find out...



Sexy George on the couch wasn’t into the Rosca



The downtown skyline when I left work



Last holiday post till December... promise! :)

Kings Bread Update:

Sad to report that we never found the baby doll. We're hoping it just didn't get put in there by the baker and that it wasn't accidently eaten by one of us. :) Also found some more information on the Kings Bread/Cake custom for all my blogger friends who have similar traditions:

'The King Cake tradition is believed to have begun with French settlers around 1870, who were themselves continuing a custom which dated back to Twelfth Century France, when a similar cake was used to celebrate the coming of the Magi twelve days after Christmas bearing gifts for the Christ Child. This celebration was also once known as King's Day. As a symbol of this Holy Day, a tiny plastic baby (symbolic of the baby Jesus) is placed inside each King Cake but in times gone past, the hidden items were usually coins, beans, pecans or peas. Today, the cakes are baked in many shapes but originally, they were round to portray the circular route take by the Magi in order to confuse King Herod, whose army was attempting to follow the Wise Men so that the Christ Child could be killed. The origin of the modern King Cake can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when popular devotion during Christmas turned to the Three Wise Men.'

(More information can be found *Here*)

Isn't it great that it's travelled so far and so long? 'It gives one a feeling of solidarity, almost of continuity with the past…'