Twelfth Night

Today is the beginning of the Epiphany, and the traditional end of the Christmas holiday season. Take down your Christmas decorations, or risk bad luck for the coming year. Bake a King's Cake. In the old days, Twelfth Night was wild holiday and a much bigger celebration than Christmas day, when people simply went to church.  The cake was an important part of the party because a dried pea or bean was baked inside, and whoever found it was crowned king or queen for the day. 

From Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac:

George and Martha Washington didn't usually do much for Christmas except attend church, but they often hosted elaborate Twelfth Night celebrations. It was also their anniversary; they'd been married on January 5, 1759. Martha Washington left behind her recipe for an enormous Twelfth Night cake among her papers at Mount Vernon. The recipe called for 40 eggs, four pounds of sugar, and five pounds of dried fruit. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that Christmas became the primary holiday of the season in America, and at that point, Twelfth Night celebrations all but disappeared.

 Twelfth Night- The King Drinks

 David Teniers