27 December 2008

December Fool's Day

December 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. It is the day that commemorates the death of the little boys who were slain by King Herod in an attempt to assassinate the Christ Child. This event is described in the Gospel of Matthew in Mathew 2:13-16. It talks about King Herod ordering the execution of all young male children under the age of two in the village of Bethlehem, after the Magi or “Three Kings” announced to him the impending birth of the "King of the Jews." The Magi were supposed to return to Herod and tell him where they found this newborn king so that supposedly he could go and worship Him also. However , God warned the Magi in a dream and they tricked Herod and did not return home through Jerusalem. That is when an Angel also warned Joseph and he took Mary and the little baby an fled to Egypt to avoid Herod's clutches.

On this day in Mexico and many other Spanish speaking countries people pull practical jokes on each other. It is equivalent to the U.S. version of April Fools Day. You must not believe anything that other people say, nor let them borrow any amount of money. The tradition is that money borrowed on this day doesn't have to be repaid. If you fall victim of the joke, the person pulling the joke will say, “Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar” or “Innocent little dove how you've let yourself be fooled”. This is the short version of a little verse that goes:

“Inocente Palomita
Que te dejaste engañar
Sabiendo que en este día
Nada se debe prestar.”

Innocent little dove
How you've let yourself be fooled
Knowing that on this day
You should lend nothing.

4 comments:

1st Mate said...

Poor little baby boys, fools only because they picked the wrong time to be born. You have to wonder how God decided to let them all die, when he could have just struck Herod down. Que lastima.

GlorV1 said...

That is sad and it makes you wonder why God would allow that to happen. Very sad indeed.
Hope all is okay with you Bob. Remember when you changed your comments section and we couldn'comment on your blog? Well, Theresa in Merida changed hers and now I can't comment on her blog. There has to be a way to get through that. I think it's a blogger problem. Did you ever figure out a way? Happy New Year!

GlorV1 said...

Thanks Bob. I already went that route. I pulled down the menu and selected glorv1/google and that didn't work. I tried them all and all I get is an error message like I was getting when you had that embedded comments section. I don't know how you posted a comment on Theresa's blog, but I did see it there. I guess I just have to wait till blooger sends me some info on what to do. Thx for your help. Don't you go changing your comment section, pullllleeeeze. :) bye.

GlorV1 said...

Just stopped by to say thank you for going to Theresa's blog Bob and letting her know what was going on. I appreciate it. I can now comment on her blog. She went back to her original. Have a great day Hombre.:)

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.