Hello Thomas, > I didn't know that. What do you call it in Spanish, and what is the > history?
Spain is traditionally Catholic and Dec. 28th is the Holy Innocents Day commemorating that day more than 2,000 years ago when King Herod ordered the slaughter of all male infants in his realm for fear of the prophecy that one of them would depose him from his throne. The new-born Jesus escaped that cruel decree because Joseph and Mary had taken him to Egypt, outside of the despot's power, in obedience to the bidding of an angel. The Spanish word 'inocente' means 'not guilty', but it is also used for 'harmless', 'naive', 'gullible',... On this page: http://www.geocities.com/thalaric1/navidad/traditions.html#innocentes You can read: ,----- [ ] | Los Inocentes (28th December) | Innocents' Day (Feast of the Holy Innocents) | | The 28th of December is Innocents' Day, similar in spirit to the | American April Fools' Day. On this day, people play inocentadas (pranks | or practical jokes) on friends and relatives: people make jokes hoping | that the victim believes the false thing. When people get caught, the | joker says: "Inocente, inocente!" ("Innocent, innocent!"). The | newspapers and other media are in on the joke as well, reporting false | news for the people to figure out. In some parts of Spain young boys of | a town or village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who | orders townspeople to perform civic chores such as sweeping the streets. | Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the | celebration. `----- If you Google for Innocents Day you will find many references to it. One the first is: http://www.visitpuertovallarta.com/puertovallarta/puertovallarta/mexicanculture/innocents-day.shtml Although it refers to Mexico, guess where Mexico and most South American countries got many of its traditions from :) -- Best regards, Miguel A. Urech (El Escorial - Spain) Using The Bat! v3.0.2.10 ________________________________________________ Current version is 3.0.1.33 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
