Celebrating the Epiphany with year 7 students (11 years old) the French way!

At my school, my Head of Department wanted to introduce year 7
students (11 years old) to the French culture a bit more and thought
about celebrating the Epiphany on the 6th of January with a French
tradition: la galette des rois.

From the Middle Ages, the epiphany has been celebrated with a special
Twelfth Night cake: la galette des rois, literally the King's cake.
The galette differed according to the regions: for example it was made
of puff pastry in Paris, but made of brioche and shaped as a crown in
Provence. Under Louis XIV, the Church considered this festival as a
pagan celebration and as an excuse for indulgence, and it was
subsequently banned. To get around this ban, it became la fête du bon
voisinage (literally, 'neighbourly relations day'). This culinary
tradition even survived the French Revolution when it became the
Gâteau de l'Êgalité (the equality cake), as Kings were not very
popular in those years!
The cake contains a lucky charm (une fève) which originally was a
bean, a symbol of fertility. Whoever found the charm in their slice of
cake, became King or Queen and had to buy a round of drinks for all
their companions. This sometimes resulted in stingy behaviour and to
avoid buying a round of drinks, the potential King or Queen very often
swallowed the bean! This is why towards the end of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20th centuries, the lucky charm started being made of
china. The charm can take any shape or form and can either be very
plain or more sophisticated (glazed or hand painted). It sometimes
represents a religious figure such as the baby Jesus, but it can be
virtually anything. Little horseshoe shapes are popular as they are
thought to bring luck. Although nowadays very often made of plastic,
old-fashioned china charms are still used and they have become a
collectable item.
The modern Galette des Rois is made of puff pastry and can be plain or
filled with frangipane, an almond-flavoured paste. It is sold in all
French bakeries and eating the galette at the beginning of January is
still a very popular tradition and an opportunity for families and
friends to gather around the table. The youngest person in the room
(usually a child) hides under the table and shouts out which guest
each slice of cake should be given to. The person who finds the fève
in their slice of galette becomes the King or Queen and is given a
golden paper crown. The King or Queen then has to choose his Queen or
her King, by dropping the lucky charm in their glass.

So this last week, we have had "special" lessons with year 7 who were
able to have a taste of la galette (my head of department went to
France over Christmas and bought 20 cakes at Intermarch Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4  é!). We also
showed the students the recipe of the cake and a traditional song
about the cake, all thanks to youtube! The last part of the lesson was
spend making cardboard crowns with Je suis le roi!, Je suis la reine!