December 28 is Dia de los Inocentes--Mexico's April Fools Day
On December 28th (this Friday), Mexico (and Spain and, presumably, many other former colonial holdings of Spain) celebrates “El Dia de los Inocentes”
(Day of the Innocents) a day to practice light-hearted practical jokes on those who forget what day it is—along the lines of “April Fool’s Day” in the
United States. It is a tradition that Mexicans inherited from Spain, which adapted it from their Christian background. Ironically, the tradition of
playing pranks on one’s “innocent” friends and family is taken from a morbid episode supposedly rooted in the dawn of Christianity.
According to the Gospel of Matthew (which is the first mention of the event), when the Magi (the Three Wise Men) undertook their journey to take gifts
and recognition for the infant Jesus, they first called on King Herod in Jerusalem to inform him of their presence before departing for Bethlehem.
Among the information they shared with the notably cruel, capricious and paranoid king was that they were taking gifts to the newly born King of the
Jews. King Herod expressed an interest in this information and asked that the Magi visit him on their way home to inform him how the trip had gone and
to share with him the identity of the newborn King. The Magi said they would and left for Bethlehem.
But the Magi, perhaps because they became aware of the true nature of King Herod, decided to return home without the requested stop to see the king.
King Herod, meanwhile, had decided—true to his nature—to eliminate any threats to his thrown, and so, when the Three Wise Men didn’t show up with the
needed information, came up with Plan B to eradicate the threat. Since he didn’t know the identity of Baby Jesus, he ordered his men to proceed to
Bethlehem to kill all the male children two years old and younger. While some accounts have placed the number of the massacred children (if indeed
this event happened at all) at up to 40,000 kids, historians have said that at the time of Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem only had a population of around
1,000 inhabitants, placing the number of the potentially massacred kids at no more than 20, with perhaps another six-to-ten killed in the surrounding
countryside.
Jesus is said to have escaped this fate because Joseph was warned by God in a dream to take his family to Egypt, where they escaped the massacre.
Somehow, that supposedly historical macabre event has been translated into today’s Day of the Innocents, a day when one’s friends and families are
fair game for practical jokes, which are known as inocentadas.
So, if you now live in Mexico or have Mexican friends where you live in the US, you might consider doing something to them this Friday, December 28th
that you’d normally do on April Fool’s Day and impress them with your knowledge of their customs and culture, and have a little fun while you’re at
it. If you succeed, you let them know that they fell for it by saying “Caiste, feliz Dia de los Inocentes” (you fell for it, happy Day of the
Innocents) or, what I use to hear in La Paz, “Inocente palomita, que te dejaste engañar" (Innocent little pigeon, that you let yourself be fooled).
Good luck!
[Edited on 12-27-2012 by Bajatripper]
There most certainly is but one side to every story: the TRUTH. Variations of it are nothing but lies.
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