The symbolism behind the King's Cake

Do you know the symbolism behind the King's Cake?

According to Paul-Georges Sansonetti, the galette des rois has a symbolism that is not necessarily obvious, but which becomes clear once you know about it...

Traditionally, the galette is made of puff pastry because symbolically it represents a book, a round book... Round because the circle represents totality, fullness, the sky. So, beyond a cake, what we are eating is the book of spiritual knowledge.

Its golden appearance also refers to the sun and evokes the return of the sun, light, and longer days.

The streaks on the crust evoke a net which, symbolically since the dawn of time, has been used to capture something or someone without hurting them (fugitives, animals, etc.). It is therefore a question of mastering the knowledge that we symbolically eat through this cake.

As for the bean, normally, most often, a small Jesus (although nowadays the beans are many and varied), it represents light or, more precisely, the philosopher's stone in the field of alchemy. That is why the person who finds it is considered the king!

P.S. Did you know that the cake served at the Élysée Palace does not contain a bean? Yes, it is not appropriate to remind people within those walls of a political regime that was abolished during the Revolution...

Source : Paul-Georges Sansonetti, la symbolique de Noël, interview BTLV