The Feast of the Holy Innocents represents a curious syncretism between the pagan and the religious. Its origin dates back to the 5th century; a time when the Catholic Church began to celebrate this feast in honor of the children who were massacred in Judea by Herod shortly after the birth of Jesus.
According to the biblical passage described in Matthew (chapter 2), Herod, who sat at the throne of Judea at the time Jesus was born, learned that a child who would be called “the King of the Jews” had been born. This caused fear and jealousy in him, and upon learning of the arrival of the Three Wise Men from the East who came to adore said infant, he sent for them and asked them to inform him of everything they knew about that child, since he wanted also go to worship him as well.
The Wise Men, being warned in a dream not to give any information to Herod, decided to return to the East by making a detour by another road. Feeling cheated, Herod broke out in anger and had all the children under the age of two who lived in Judea killed, thus hoping to kill the one who was supposed to take his throne. The Catholic Church considers these massacred infants as martyrs who died in place of Christ. Hence the name “Holy Innocents”
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