The tradition of the roscón de Reyes, which is eaten the day after Kings Night, on January 6, dates back to classical Rome. What is now linked to a Christian celebration was originally a pagan tradition.
At that time, during the festivities in honor of Saturn, a cake was eaten very similar to the current roscón made with a paste of figs, honey and dates. Then it seems that a bean was also hidden inside and whoever found it was symbolically proclaimed king of the party.
According to current traditions, as far as the Christian tradition is concerned, the roscón is a way of symbolizing the royal offering collected in the biblical texts. Traditionally, the roscón hides two surprises: a figurine, which as a general rule is one of the three Wise Men, and the other is a bean. Whoever gets the figurine is crowned king (the roscón is sold with a cardboard crown) and whoever gets the bean is penalized by paying for the cake. In any case, the customs are less and less strict and many roscones hide more than one surprise.
Comments are closed.