Epiphany is a day of family celebration, but it is also the day of tasting the traditional galette des rois. When does it take place this year? Here is all the information you need to know about Epiphany.
After celebrating the new year, it’s time to celebrate Epiphany, January 6th. This family party, originally Christian, is generally celebrated on Sunday. For young and old, it is an opportunity to get together as a family, but also to enjoy a good king cake, whether classic, frangipane, or a little more original. This holiday is also surrounded by some traditions. Here’s everything you need to know about Epiphany.
When is Epiphany in 2024?
Every year, Epiphany takes place on January 6, twelve days after the birth of Jesus Christ. In 2024, this Christian holiday takes place on Saturday January 6. But to celebrate it with the family, it is customary to celebrate it the following Sunday (January 7 this year). Moreover, religiously also, the services celebrating the Epiphany can take place on the following Sunday. And more generally, the French have the habit of drawing kings throughout the first half of January.
What is the origin of Epiphany?
The feast of Epiphany was established by the Church in the 4th century on January 6 to celebrate, shortly after the birth of Jesus, the meditation of the Three Wise Men around his cradle. There are three of them, Melchior, Gaspard and Balthazar. Coming from the East, they would have visited the child Jesus and offered him gifts twelve days after his birth, the time to make the journey guided by a star.
According to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the first Magi, Melchior, an old man with white hair and a long beard, offered gold signifying the Kingship of Christ. The second mage, Gaspard, a young man offered Jesus incense in homage to his divinity. Finally, Balthazar, a black man, offered myrrh, an aromatic gum-resin which was used to embalm the dead, and which recalled the humanity of Jesus, therefore that he had to die.
Why do we eat a king cake on Epiphany, what traditions?
For Epiphany, the tradition is to buy or make your own galette des rois and draw a king or queen. Why this particular cake? We have to go back to Roman times to understand the history of the galette des rois. At that time, locals celebrated Saturnalia on 7 seven days, during the winter solstice, in homage to Saturn, the Roman agricultural god. For the occasion, the Romans had the habit of sharing and consume a golden-colored and round-shaped cake, supposed to represent the sun and therefore the Saturnalia. Already at that time, in each dessert there was a bean hidden. When a person fell on it, they became “king or queen of Saturnalia”. This is where this other one was born tradition of designating a king or queen when tasting the galette des rois.
Our craft activities for children at Epiphany
For Epiphany, children can also have fun make a pretty wreath made of paper or cardboard which will be worn proudly by the king or queen of the day, or to make coloring pages. If this is the case for your children, you have come to the right place, here are our wreath templates to print and to do it yourself, as well as all our tutorials on this theme.
What is the origin of the bean?
In Roman times, each cake contained a bean. The person who won the latter was crowned as king or queen of the evening. While the bean inserted in the dessert was first a legume (the bean), it was later replaced by a gold coin, then a porcelain bean in the 19th century. Even today, a bean is put in the pancakes and the person who finds it in their share becomes king or queen and puts on their crown (made of paper).