Wednesday, December 28
Today is, of course, Childermas, the feast of the Holy Innocents. It's also the equivalent of April Fool's Day in Hispanic culture. Whether this is somehow a fossilized remnant of some of the topsy-turvy choirboy hijinks (such as the boy bishop and the raucous and sometimes sacrilegious celebrations that surrounded the surreal Festum Asinorum or Feast of Donkeys) associated in the mediaeval period with the stretch between Christmas and the New Year, I can't say. But the custom's still there. Once you've pulled your prank, you're supposed to cry, "inocente! inocente!" to recall the feast day, and to perhaps suggest a different sort of innocence--the gullibility of the poor soul you've just had your fun with!
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
