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January
January 1st: New Year
Happy and prosperous New Year : that’s what people say to each other during the New Year’s Eve party as midnight strikes between December 31st and January 1st to usher in the New Year.
As soon as the New Year has come, and all through January, French people pass on their good wishes by visiting family and friends, or else send greetings cards.
At New Year, they often give a little present or a New Year’s tip to regular workers who have done a good job, such as the postman or the concierge.
They think this is the best way to thank people who have been really helpful during the previous year. The size of the tip or present depends on how generous each individual feels.
January 6th: The Feast of the Kings or Epiphany
Epiphany is a christian religious feast associated with the Three Wise Men. For all French people, the tradition is now to have a really good time with family, friends or colleagues, celebrating with a special Twefth Night cake called “la galette des rois”.
The recipe varies from place to place and the cake may be round and made of puff pastry, or in the shape of a crown and made with a brioche mixture. But watch out, there’s a lucky charm hidden inside it: this is called “la fève” and if you find it in your piece of cake you are the king or queen.
To find out if you are the lucky one, you have to “tirer les rois”, which means share out the cake equally between all the guests. The king or queen for the day then has to choose his or her partner by placing a golden paper crown on their head.
Much to the delight of bakers and cake makers, the French eat Twelfth Night cake all through the month of January!
The lucky charms were originally broad beans, but over the years have turned into little figurines made of china or metal etc… Some people like collecting them.