Who will be King or Queen on January 6th? 

Epiphany is a Christian feast: in the Catholic religion, it celebrates the Messiah who came and became incarnate in the world, receiving the visit and homage of the three Magi; in the Orthodox religion, Epiphany (or Theophany) celebrates the manifestation to the world of Jesus of Nazareth as Christ and Son of God through his baptism. It takes place on January 6.

Various customs are observed on this occasion. In France, Switzerland and Belgium, since the Middle Ages, a “galette des rois” or a “gâteau des rois”, pastries containing a bean, are shared on this day; the person who finds the bean in his or her portion is designated “king” or “queen”.

But where does this custom come from?

The galette des rois originated in the Roman Saturnalia celebrations, during which the Romans designated a slave as “king for a day”. During a banquet at the heart of each large familia, the Romans used the bean from a cake to draw lots for the “Saturnalicius princeps” (prince of Saturnalia). The “king for a day” has the power to fulfill all his desires during the day (such as giving orders to his master) before returning to his servile life. To ensure the random distribution of galette slices, it is customary for the youngest member of the family to stand under the table and name the recipient of each new slice.

In Switzerland, the galette des rois is made with brioche pastry. At Juliette, this iconic cake is made with puff pastry filled with almond frangipane cream.

Don’t forget to reserve your frangipane galette des rois now! Juliette will be presenting the frangipane galette des rois throughout January.

Discover here Juliette’s Galette des Rois and reserve yours for the date of your choice: GALETTE DES ROIS