It is the Fourth Day of Christmas, but after drinking a cup or two of mulled wine in honor of St. John on the 27th, the 28th is a more somber occasion – for the most part.

While the Second Day of Christmas commemorates St. Stephen, the first martyr after the Crucifixion, and the Third Day of Christmas commemorates St. John, the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” the Fourth Day of Christmas commemorates the Holy Innocents – that is, the poor little children of Bethlehem, massacred on the orders of King Herod after the Magi (more on them later in this series) came to him asking: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

HEROD’S WRATH.  

Herod, the Gospel tells us, was “troubled” by this news, wishing to see off any potential rival to his illegitimate crown. He summoned his chief priests and scribes, who told him the newborn king would be in Bethlehem. Herod then sent the Magi to find the child, asking them to report back afterwards “that I may come and worship him also.”

But being “warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way” – and the client king took drastic action:

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

The Church commemorates these children as the Holy Innocents, proto-martyrs whose gruesome fate holds up a dark mirror to the joy of the Nativity.

Jesus might have died with them, but “the angel of the Lord” appeared to St. Joseph in a dream, urging him: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

Justice found Herod in its time, however, with the tyrant dying of a putrefying disease so agonizing he attempted to take his own life – unsuccessfully.

CHILDERMAS.  

The traditions surrounding Childermas are much more light-hearted than might be expected, given the subject matter. In the home, the normal order of things was turned upside down, with children, and sometimes the youngest child, in particular, being given charge of the house. They decided what meals the family should eat, what games should be played, and what books should be read. (In a modern context, this would presumably extend to movies and shows, too.)

For many years, churches and cathedrals took this custom to the next level, installing boy bishops and boy priests to preside over church services, in place of the regular clergy. Slowly stamped out in England from the time of Henry VIII, this singularly quirky custom has been revived in the modern era, with the Church of England investing Anglican boy bishops in Hereford and Oldham, for example.

In addition to honoring the Holy Innocents, this custom is also believed to be a reminder of Christ’s lesson to His disciples in the Book of Matthew, when He set a child before them and said: “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”

Spain, some of its former colonies, and other countries, also marked the day by playing pranks – with the pranksters generally youngsters, and the prankees their elders – with the “victims” of the tricksters being let in on the joke with a cry of “Innocente!” rather than “April Fool!”

One custom perhaps best left in the past was parents giving their children a good spanking to start the day, as a reminder of the Holy Innocents’ suffering – perhaps not the best way of engendering a desire to return to tradition in the younger generation!