Okay, so through our homeschooling journey, we have found it beneficial to teach our children about all different types of holidays and their meanings. Yesterday, my husband brought us home a King Cake...a popular traditional cake of Mardi Gras.
It was a colorful way to teach the kids what Mardi Gras is about and why people celebrate it. Even though for many, the true reason has been lost in translation for many years. It was fun to teach them about the significant colors and what they stood for~yellow-power, purple-justice and green-faith.
They got to decorate their own king cake and we explained about the reason the cakes were made and that they were named after the 3 Kings that came to visit Jesus. Perhaps the most fun part of the cake is the hidden baby Jesus doll inside.
Daddy cut the cake very carefully as to not "hurt" the baby Jesus. Each of the kids agreed that if he was found in their section of color that they decorated, they would get to keep the doll. All the kids were very excited to decorate and eat the cake. Mostly because they wanted to find the golden baby Jesus. Back in old times, the doll was actually made of gold or porcelain. Nowadays, they are plastic :(, but the fact that it was still gold in color excited them all.
So the kids anxiously searched their pieces to find nothing but yummy cinnamon braided dough, frosting and colored sugar. Mom and Dad select pieces as well. Dad found something suspiciously hard in his...can you see it?
We let Gabe dig it out, since it was his chosen/decorated "color"...green (which represents "faith"...would you have expected to find Him anywhere else??)
FOUND! Okay, so the kids weren't so great at being happy for him (see Cayleigh's face in the background...yes, she really wanted to find Him). Lucky for Cayleigh, Gabe is actually a very good spirit when it comes to sharing and let Cayleigh "babysit" Him for the first week. LOL
While this is a traditional Catholic Holiday, we find it to be most beneficial for our children to know and understand as many religious traditions as they can. We believe it promotes and encourages acceptance, understanding, love and tolerance for all faiths. We do not want to raise our children to not understand others. And while we are not Catholic, we certainly are Christian and anything that helps us to remember our savior is fine by me. What many people don't know about Mardi Gras is the close relation it has to Christmas. We found it to be a fun reminder of our savior's birth and learned a lot that we didn't know regarding the holiday and it's meaning. How it turned into what it is for many folks today is truly beyond me. We found the King cake to be a fun, hands on approach to learning about Mardi Gras. You can order your own King Cake via the internet at Gambino's Bakery or if you get lucky, may find one at your local grocery or bakery. Happy FAT TUESDAY!!
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