Fiesta season never ends! Today, December 28, is Día de los Santos Inocentes, Day of the Holy Innocents. It is a day for all kinds of practical jokes. And beware of lending money! Tradition says money borrowed today doesn’t have to be paid back. A person who falls for tricks on December 28th is referred to as an Inocente Palomita ~ “an innocent dove who lets himself be deceived.”
Day of the Innocents is based on a tragic biblical story and probably goes back to the Middle Ages. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew, when King Herod was warned of the birth of the “new king of the Jews” (the baby Jesus) he went into a jealous rage and sent soldiers to kill all boys under the age of two. The children killed during the rampage are known as the “Holy Innocents.” Jesus escaped death because his parents were warned by an angel and fled Bethlehem. King Herod was tricked trying to maintain control of his kingdom and the tradition of trickery continues to this day.
Neto remembers Dia de los Inocentes, 2003, as an example of the truly diabolical Mexican sense of humor. He still laughs when he tells the story. A strong tidal wave hit the west coast of Mexico the previous October. On Day of the Innocents, the Mazatlán newspaper republished the story as if it were happening that very day. People panicked. They fled the city in huge numbers, carrying little but the clothes on their backs. They stayed hidden away until the newspaper published a retraction days later. But the newspaper never apologized. It was considered good fun to fool so many “innocent doves.”
As an American, living in Mexico, most of the tricks played on me were tricks of language. I was an Inocente Palomita. I was easily fooled! One morning as I went to breakfast with friends, someone told me that if I wanted to order eggs, I should say, “Tiene huevones?” Because huevos means eggs, I believed I was ordering two fried eggs. The waiter stared at me with wide-open eyes. My friends at the table started to giggle, then broke out in raucous laughter. I used a slang expression that compares eggs to male anatomy. I didn’t order a two-egg breakfast. I asked the waiter, “Do you have big balls?”
Because I don’t have any pictures of practical jokes, I am including a picture I took in Puerto Vallarta on December 28, 2014. I believe the girl on the left is giving me an obscene gesture. Maybe it is her idea of a practical joke?
These children, who spend all day selling trinkets on the street for a few pesos, are my idea of Los Santos Inocentes. They are the beautiful children of Mexico. It is a modern-day story of a baby born in poverty.
As we approach a new year, a new decade, please remember the innocent children around the world. Protect them as if they were your own. Because they are.
Feliz Año Nuevo. Happy New Year!
Oh so true. All of the children are ours.