Day of the Innocent Saints

The Massacre of the Innocents by Rubens (1638) José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro

Why is 'April Fool's Day' celebrated on December 28 in Spain?

Every year on December 28, Spain and Latin America commemorates Día de los Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents' Day) as an opportunity to play tricks on the naïve. However, it is a tradition of more than 2,000 years and with a tragic origin. Every December 28, the pranksters have fun with their jokes that range from black humor to white lies and false and dramatic news [although how you tell the difference these days is a mystery].

However, the more than two thousand year tradition has a tragic origin. The "Day of the Innocents" began as the Catholic feast of the "Innocent Children", in commemoration of the slaughter of all children under two years ordered by Herod upon learning that the Messiah had been born.

Over time, the pagan tradition took away the tragic aspect until it became the "Day of the Holy Innocents": an opportunity to play tricks on the naïve.

El Día de Los Santos Inocentes, falls on the 28th December, which is the Spanish equivalent of April Fool's Day, when jokes abound and tricks will be played. 

December 28 in the Catholic church commemorates the assassination of all the male babies - The Innocent Saints - on Herod's orders in a vain attempt to kill the child Jesus. Since the Middle Ages, the sacrilegious have remembered this mournful event with humour and, the tradition has continued. In olden days, bakers made salted tarts, people nailed coins to the floor, etc. The most usual was to cut out a paper effigy and stick it to the back of a passer-by, which they would wear without knowing and, many people will make jokes in bad taste.

At Ibi, near Benidorm on the Costa Blanca on the Spanish mainland, workers from the local toy factory (in fancy dress) take over the administration of justice in the streets from 9 a.m. to midday. Any 'fines' they collect (extort) will go to charities and, they are not subtle: they have been known to handcuff the bank manager and have removed the wheels from a vehicle. Even the police won't stop them.

On TV and in the newspapers in Spain, bogus stories will appear (a UFO terrorizes the Royal Palace; the President runs off with the daughter of the opposition leader; a new planet has been discovered; all cars with registration ending in 7 must report to the police, etc., etc.), only some of which are later acknowledged to be "inocentadas" - hoaxes in the name of Los Santos Inocentes.

Por qué se celebra el Día de los Inocentes el 28 de diciembre

Sopa de Mariscos (Seafood Soup)

Sopa de mariscos Image by Iva Balk at Pixabay

Here's a really quick and simple seafood soup (warming for every day, impressive enough for entertaining too). The recipe is based on a soup I was served once at the restaurant El Rubio in the small seaside village of La Caleta de Interian, near Los Silos on the north coast of Tenerife.

Ingredients:

Assorted seafood (I used prawns and muscles)
1 litre fish stock
a handful (1 tablespoon approx.) rice
Herbs & seasoning to taste

Method:

Put the fish stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the rice and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the seafood and cook for five minutes more. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with crusty bread.

(NB: This doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, because you can restrict the number of seafood to the exact number of portions. One litre serves 4 approx.)

Sopa de Pollo Con Fideos (Chicken Noodle)

Sopa de Pollo Con Fideos

The temperature here this morning had dropped to a rather nippy 11 degrees centigrade. So it's not minus something that most will be experiencing in the northern hemisphere, but when you've had temperatures of 40C + in summer, relatively, this is four woolly weather. Time for a nice warming soup.

You may think there's nothing remarkable about Sopa de Pollo Con Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup), but this is probably one of the most popular soups locally. To me, it is a sin to buy those awful packets of dried chemicals pretending to be something edible, when this is much nicer, almost as quick, very probably cheaper and certainly much healthier using all natural ingredients.

Ingredients:

One chicken drumstick or thigh
One chicken stock cube (optional)
A few mixed herbs
Vegetables, such as onion and carrot (optional)
One litre (2.2 English pints) of water
A handful of thin noodles

Method:

Place all the ingredients, except the pasta, into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes (give or take) until the chicken is ready to fall off the bone and has infused it's flavour into the stock.

Remove the drumstick from the stock and remove the meat from the bone, shredding finely. Place the meat back into the saucepan with the stock. Add the pasta and simmer for approx. 5 minutes more, until the pasta is done.

Season to taste and serve with crusty bread. Serves four.