Golden paper crowns

Epiphany crown, Première Moisson Bakery produced by Prime fleur d'argile, 2007

I was pleased to be invited to celebrate epiphany this afternoon with friends and a "galette des rois". The galette des rois or king cake, is made of buttery, flakey pastry layers and is filled with an almond cream frangipane. Buried deep within all of this buttery deliciousness is the fève, a hard dry bean or tiny ceramic figure.

The lucky recipient of a galette slice including the fève is the bean king or queen. Along with this title comes a golden paper crown as well as the responsibility for hosting the next epiphanous event. In other Twelfth Night myths and fictions the bean king might be named the Bishop of Fools, Abbot of Unreason, or Lord of Misrule and be called upon to perform the role of the human scape goat, enacting obscure rights to encourage favourable weather or gain the dubious honour of 30 days of riotous fun followed by a sacrificial death.

I however was content to wear the flashy die cut crown offered this year by Montreal's Première Moisson bakeries. The Moisson crown was commissioned from Prime fleur d'argile of Faverney France (www.prime.fr). Prime designs a new collection of fève charms and paper crowns each year and has been producing holographic epiphany crowns since 1994.