Other Customs of Today

Other Customs for the Day

After a nice candlelight feast (try adding some myrrh or frankincense fragrance oil to your candles tonight!), there is the tradition of drinking a medieval wassail called "Lamb's Wool," which is said to take its name from "La Mas Ubhal," which means "the day of the apple fruit" (and was pronounced like "lamasool"). "Three Kings Cake" is eaten in honor of the three kings, one slice being set aside "for God." Recipes for the latter vary from country to country, but they almost always include a trinket or dried bean hidden inside. The person who gets the slice with the trinket or dried bean is the King or Queen of the Day and gets to choose a consort (this is the French method). An old English way of doing this is to bake two cakes, one for the men baked with a bean for the King, the other for the women, with a dried pea for the Queen. Yet a third option is to make a cupcake-sized cake for each person, with a pea in one and a bean in one, keeping the two separate so you'll know from which batch to serve the men and the women. 

The King and Queen, once chosen, are honored, obeyed, treated and addressed as royalty. When they drink, all cry out "The King (or Queen) drinks!" and take a sip of their own beverages. Some hide a clove in the cake, too, and whoever receives the piece containing it is the Fool (if you have a man's cake for choosing the King, and a woman's cake for choosing the Queen, you could have a clove in each to choose a Fool of each sex). Why not go all out and provide the "monarchs" with golden crowns and scepters -- and any "fools" with silly, fool-ish hats?