Holy Innocents' Day
- noun
- /ˈhoʊli ˈɪnəsənts deɪ/
- Formal
:
Día de los Santos Inocentes
- Many churches celebrate Holy Innocents' Day on December 28.
Examples
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Many churches hold a special service on Holy Innocents' Day to remember the children of Bethlehem.
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On Holy Innocents' Day, some Christian traditions involve prayer for children affected by violence.
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He wrote an article explaining the significance of Holy Innocents' Day in the Christian calendar.
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Why is Holy Innocents' Day significant in Christianity?
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Many churches hold a special service on Holy Innocents' Day to remember the children of Bethlehem.
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On Holy Innocents' Day, some Christian traditions involve prayer for children affected by violence.
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He wrote an article explaining the significance of Holy Innocents' Day in the Christian calendar.
Synonyms
A Christian day on December 28 when people remember the children killed in Bethlehem by King Herod
Surface Forms
Morphology
A B1 learner who knows 'holy', 'innocent(s)', and 'day' can infer that this is a religious day related to innocent people, so the general notion of a sacred observance is derivable from the constituents. However, the specific historical sense—commemorating Herod's massacre of the children and the fixed calendrical date—is culturally specific and not recoverable from the words alone (the possessive plural form may also confuse learners), so the meaning is only partly predictable.
Etymology
Holy Innocents' Day comes from a Bible story about King Herod ordering the killing of baby boys in Bethlehem. Churches remember those children on December 28, so the day means 'to remember innocent children who died'.
