Some words on the song that's been going through my head today, because it is the Epiphany.
We went to our annual Epiphany celebration of church, which means we would chalk over each doorway leading into church and eat bland casserole.
But for our kids, the draw is always the King cake, where pieces of cake are sliced up after the meal, pieces in which a small plastic baby have been strategically placed inside three of them.
If you find the baby, then you are one of the three people who have to make the cake for next year's Epiphany.
Our son found the baby last year, which meant we were in charge of one cake this year.
My wife actually made two cakes, which was good as nobody else that was supposed to make the cake did. I think that everyone thought we would bring all of the three cakes, but I won't bore you with the details of that drama.
The message to our children was very clear. Wait until the baby is found before you go up to get your piece of cake. In other words, let someone else make the fucking King cake next year.
But of course, you can't keep children from cake. Even when there is clear instructions given, the only thing they know is how many steps it takes to get to a piece of cake.
And within moments, our little 4 year old girl was licking pink frosting off the plastic baby Jesus she found in her cake.
The song "No Epiphany" immediately follows "Generations" on this crowd-shot video. It's poor quality, but there's a couple of ass shots for you to see.
NSFW, I guess, but then again, the band's name is Fucked Up, so no duh.
Is this a new Episcopalian thing?
ReplyDeleteChaling the door or the King cake? Both are not anything new, with chalking the door a tradition for centuries. You put the letters C M B and the year on the top of your door frame. Why the letters "C M B?" Those come from the traditional (9th century) names for the "three kings"--Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Some also suggest "Christus Mansionem Benedicat," which means "May Christ bless this dwelling."
ReplyDeleteThe King Cake is also a fairly old tradition from Europe, but the trinket plastic baby Jesus is actually something commonly done for Mardis Gras. If you find the baby, you get to lead the you get to lead the Epiphany parade, which Callista did as we chalked the doors. She did fine with that, now if she could only do the same for the other duty (making next year's King's cask) we'd be all set.
I knew about chalking the door. Isn't plastic babies in cake a little odd?
ReplyDeleteYou weren't impressed by my overly long explanation? The plastic babies aren't cooked inside the cake. Someone jams them into the cake after it's been cooked and the frosting conceals the baby's whereabouts.
ReplyDelete