May I remind you that the day after tomorrow, December 28th, Spain will celebrate the Día de los Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents’ Day), a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool’s Day in many countries. Someone may try to send you up the garden path, especially if you are of the younger generation, and all in good-humoured innocence. Be careful as to what you believe when you read the Spanish newspapers on Wednesday, as not everything will be reported truthfully and objectively.

The saint’s day refers to the biblical legend of the Slaughter of the Innocents, an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all boys under the age of two in the village of Bethlehem, to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews, whose birth was announced to him by the Three Wise Men.

As far as I know the Day of the Innocent is celebrated in a similar fashion throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 28th, 2011. The time was 14:42:23.