The majority of Christians in Lebanon and around the world celebrate Epiphany tonight and the tradition is to eat the Galette des Rois and some zlebyé. The traditional Galette is filled with frangipane, an almond-based filling, and a slice is given to each person sitting on the table. The one who gets the lucky charm (la fève) hidden in the galette gets to wear the king or the queen’s crown. This year I got a galette from Cannelle and another from Kay (Stop & Shop) and the one from Kay was much better.
While the galette is a French tradition, the zlebyé is made in Lebanon during epiphany every year and is basically a fried dough with sugar and cinnamon. It’s really good and the best way to have it is when it’s still hot. Aside from the food traditions, a lot of families keep their balconies lit up tonight as the day marks principally the visit of the Magi (Three wise men) to the Christ child. I don’t mind the tradition but I wish we could replace it with candles as we need to save electricity in this country.
On another note, the majority of Armenians in Lebanon celebrate today Christmas so Merry Christmas to all my Armenian friends!
