Today is Epiphany, also known as Twelfthnight, or Three Kings Day. It’s the twelfth day of Christmas (you know from the song). Today we observe the visit of the three wise men to the newborn baby Jesus, bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It is celebrated with church services, special treats and the blessing of the home for the coming year.
Growing up, we looked forward to a visit from la Befana, the Italian lady who traditionally brought candy to children on the eve of Epiphany.
Actually, we got our candy from our Great Aunt Ida.
She was surrogate Grandma to us, she was the last member of my grandfather’s family and having never had any children of her own, she doted on her nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren. Each of the dozen or so grand nieces and grand nephews and the great grand nieces and nephews could always look forward to receiving chocolate and money from Tia Ida. My brother and I especially looked forward to receiving big blocks of Laura Secord chocolate and of course to spending that crisp dollar bill on even more treats! But first, there was much feasting on pasta, roast chicken, Italian meats and cheeses, olives, and bread, followed by biscotti, cake, fruit and more cheese.
Our gluten friendly Almond Shortbread is an adaptation of an Italian family recipe for cookies enjoyed as part of these celebrations.
From the other side of the family, there was the turkey and the presents from Santa Claus and, of course, shortbread. Did you know that shortbread was once the treat of royalty? Ordinary citizens could not afford this luxury and only enjoyed it on special occasions. It is believed that Mary Queen of Scots was a fan of shortbread wedges, or petticoat tails, that are cut from those round discs of shortbread. Shortbread is also baked in pans and cut into fingers or, as we do, baked in small rounds. For Christmas, we always have Traditional Shortbread made with my great-grandmother’s recipe and some of our wonderful holiday flavour options, too. What’s your favourite?
We were so lucky to have these traditions at Christmas. I have so many fond memories of family gatherings, trudging through the snow to midnight Mass, the Eaton’s Santa Claus parade, company Christmas parties, and school Christmas concerts; and then, the joy of sharing all our family traditions with my own children. And now, I have the privilege of sharing these moments with my grandchildren.
As the Christmas season draws to a close and we get back to our regular routines, it is a good time to reflect on the blessings of this past year and pray for God’s grace and blessings on our home and family in the year to come. We are so very grateful for this year’s blessings as we have enjoyed a successful year with our shortbread business, our best yet, and we see great things coming in the new year with our new look and new goals ahead.
We’ll share more about our new goals in future posts, but for now, our family is enjoying a meal together for the feast of Epiphany that includes a special dessert that reminds us of the Three Kings’ visit. We love the richness of all these Christmas traditions and we celebrate the visit of the Kings to the Christ Child with a final toast the Christmas season with a shortbread cookie on the side.
After all, it is National Shortbread Day.
