Help, There's A Baby In My Cake!

Not. Creepy.  At. All.

That's what this article  from Digital Food TV says about King Cake with a baby figurine in it.

Hey it's a good luck charm, though right?
In Germany they have "krapfen" which are doughnuts. Which I believe has jelly inside.

Fat Tuesday is today.  Jealous to all of you visiting New Orleans or Mobile during this time.  

I love Mardi Gras!  I first experienced this Carnival when I lived in Germany.  We had "Fasching" which is kind of the same thing as Mardi Gras.  

It starts on November 11 at exactly 11 minutes after 11 a.m. and goes until Fat Tuesday.

Here's what my memory of it looks like:

It was to "drive out winter", and also back in the older days, people felt they could mock their politicians by hiding behind the masks on this day.  

From my memories of Fasching back in the 80's,  there were parades and costumes, noisemakers, poppers, candy throwing, lots of confetti, and floats.

I attended an American high school in Heidelberg.  We had all the sports of a stateside high school.  I was  a cheerleader for football and basketball.  Our squad along with the dance team, "drill" team, would march in the Heidelberg Fasching parade every year.  It was so much fun!  Plus we got out of school.  Only problem was it was very cold and we still wore our skirts, cheer sweaters, and letter jackets.  We had those huge pom poms that we had a marching routine for.

Great arm workout!

Our beloved high school closed in 2013 after seven decades! Here's a video of a parade in 2014.  Sadly, our cheerleaders won't be in this one but I did see some (not sure where they are from).

Different Traditions, Different Dates

There are three different words in German for “Carnival” or “Mardi Gras”: Karneval,Fasching and Fastnacht. Although all three refer to the same pre-Lenten observance, each has a different tradition and reflects somewhat different customs in different regions of the German-speaking world. 

This info is from the German Way.com. 

Those were some good times!

Happy Boom Boom Day!

Anyhow, King Cake, with a plastic baby in it, is pretty cute and my kids are fascinated with it.