January 6th: Traditional Epiphany, Kings Day, 12th Night, start of Mardi Gras, 1st day we eat King Cake in south Lousiana

King cake

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King cake
Cake
Louisiana-style King Cake: a cinnamon-roll like cake inside with sugary icing with traditional Mardi Gras colored sprinkles on the outside. The baby figurine is seen in the middle of the roll
Alternative name(s):
Kingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, three kings cake, galette des rois
Recipes at Wikibooks:
King cake
Media at Wikimedia Commons:
King cake

A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras / Carnival. It is a popular food item during the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in Belgium, France, Quebec and Switzerland (galette or gâteau des Rois or galette des rois), Portugal (bolo rei), Spain, and Spanish America (roscón or rosca de reyes and tortell in Catalonia), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, Carnival is traditionally observed in the Southeastern region of the country, particularly in New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Galveston, and other towns and cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In this region, the king cake is closely associated with Mardi Gras traditions and is served throughout the Carnival season, which lasts from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.
The cake has a small plastic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus) inside (or sometimes placed underneath), and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations.

Read it all; it's fairly accurate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake