Tag Archives: dia de los inocentes

Apr1

April And Me

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April And Me

Today is April 1, April Fool’s Day. My most memorable one was back in 1980, the day I found out I was pregnant with my first child. So that’s what all the nausea was about. Not stomach flu after all. And I was blessed with it morning, noon and night, except for the time when I was admitted to hospital for a threatened miscarriage and hooked up to an IV. Miraculously the nausea disappeared for a few days. Of course the doctors and nurses attributed it to the fact that I was miscarrying.. But we showed them, didn’t we Kyle? All that nausea along with mandatory bed rest and nine months later I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Just tell me I can’t do something and then watch me do it.

In Mexico, April Fool’s Day happens on December 28 and is known as Dia De Los Santos Inocentes. This day dates back to biblical times when King Herod ordered the murder of innocent children. But as the years went by, it evolved into a day of mischief and pranks. The first trick my students played on me involved candy. They often brought me different types of Mexican candy to try. And they knew I didn’t like anything hot or spicy. That day, hidden at the center of that tasty hard candy was—you guessed it—-a mouth burning and eye watering hot chili flavored morsel.

April 5th is also my mom’s birthday. She would have been 114 or 113 this year, depending if you go by the date on her birth certificate or the date on mine. I found the discrepancy a few years ago when I had my birth certificate translated from English into Spanish. I also found other errors on my birth certificate too. I’d never really examined it that thoroughly before.

This year Easter will be celebrated on April 5th. The small Catholic church down the street has four different services listed that day. As I’m not Catholic, I’m completely ignorant when it comes the why or what of these services. I’ll most likely attend an afternoon or evening one, as I usually tend to sleep later in the morning.

And now back to April 1st, today. CFE thought it would be fun to play a joke on us today. We had a power outage. Annoying. We also had one in the middle of the night. So I think maybe I’ll upload this post before we get a third one today.

Happy Passover to those who celebrate.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate. He Is Risen!

Apr5

Facebook, Thanks For The Memory

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Facebook, Thanks For The Memory

Flash back to when I once taught Secundaria, where we had a lively discussion about the similarities between April Fool’s Day and Dia De Los Inocentes. The students were all quite amused and were happily thinking about enjoying two of these “fun” days every year.

I wrote out their homework on the board, encouraging them to read the directions carefully. The directions were very simple. “This is your homework for today. One of the questions is a joke. You do not have to answer it. You must answer only three of the questions.”

Question 1. “On what day do we celebrate April Fool’s Day?”

Question 2 “On what day do we celebrate Dia De Los Inocentes?”

Question 3 “Do you like jokes?”

Question 4 “What have you learned about April Fool’s Day? Write a 1,000,00 word essay about April Fool’s Day. Be sure that your grammar and punctuation are perfect. Do not make any spelling mistakes. Submit this assignment in a purple binder and be sure that all the pages your assignment is written on are green and yellow.”

It was interesting how they followed??? the directions.

That night my inbox was flooded with emails. “My printer doesn’t have enough ink. My mother wants to know where to buy a purple binder. The papaleria doesn’t have green paper. Is blue okay?”

There were lots more but I think you get the idea.

The next day, two girls proudly handed in their three sentences while the remainder of the class taunted them for not doing their homework. I merely smiled. The rest of the class still didn’t get it until I asked one of the girls to explain.

It’s important to follow directions.

Mar14

SMILE! LAUGH!

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SMILE! LAUGH!

Let’s take a break from politics. Let’s take a break from airline disasters. Let’s take a break from deadly tornados, blizzards and erupting volcanos. Let’s take a break from all the fear-mongering on social media. Let’s talk humor instead.

Years ago in another lifetime when I had a motivational consulting business, I was asked to do a workshop which I then called Healing With Humor. The first time I did this, it was at a luncheon for seniors. I didn’t want to bore them with all the scientific evidence that supports the theory that laughter really is a wonderful medicine for what ails you, whether it be an emotional or a physical hurt.

Instead I got them actively discovering this on their own. Blowing bubbles and playing with silly putty were two of the most popular activities. Puppets, balloons, jacks……….memories of childhood and happy times surfaced. While children laugh approximately 300 times a day, adults merely smile about 20 times a day.

Here in Mexico we have Dia De Los Inocentes on December 28th, equivalent to April Fool’s Day elsewhere. The history here is a rather solemn one as it dates back to when King Herod decreed that all children in Bethlehem under the age of two were to be killed. This would ensure that the predicted Messiah, the future king of Israel, would be killed. So why the jokes and pranks on December 28th? This also dates back to the tricks parents had to use to protect their children and thus deceive Herod’s persecutors.

Now let’s turn to April Fool’s Day, observed on April 1st. This day is celebrated in different ways in different countries. A common belief is that it dates back to ancient Roman festivals or medieval celebrations. The premise is the same as Dia De Los Inocentes……….jokes and harmless pranks.

We’re only halfway through March, but I think we can all use a good dose of humor right about now.

Remember to SMILE. Remember to LAUGH. Do this EVERY SINGLE DAY OF YOUR LIFE.

LAUGHING isn’t just for kids. LAUGHING is for EVERYONE!