King and queen of the cake

By Maureen Lamothe

lamo0164@algonquincollege.com

The eggnog has expired, the Christmas tree has been taken down and the ball has dropped – but for some at Algonquin, the holidays didn’t end Jan. 1.

The Learning and Teaching Services faculty at the college celebrated a French tradition called galette des rois at the beginning of the new semester.  The event, celebrated on Jan. 6, marks the day of Epiphany – a day which celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ as God’s human form.

Jerome Mizon, of French decent, hosted the event for the staff.  “It’s a nice way to end the holidays, and start over,” said Mizon. The computer studies program co-ordinator has been celebrating the tradition with his family since he was young. It’s one of his favourite holidays. The only part he dislikes would be the few years he isn’t get crowned king.

The tradition holds that attendees split a French cake that is filled with an almond-cream centre. Inside the cake sits a hand-carved figurine; the lucky person who receives the figurine in their piece of cake gets crowned king or queen for the day.

Traditionally, the crowned royalty would foot the champagne bill for the entire group.

This year, Algonquin crowned three staff members: Jessica Brown, Chris Boal and Louisa Lambregts. According to Brown, the figurine would have traditionally been a bean. “People who were really cheap used to swallow the bean,” she said.

Although attendance was small, those present enjoyed the time to reconnect with colleagues. Lynn Younghusband, manager of the Learning Resource Centre, thinks it was a great way to kick off the new year.

“When you come back from holidays, it’s a fun thing to do that brings everybody together. It’s important people take time to appreciate each other in these tough times,” Younghusband said.