Today is Childermas, also known as Holy Innocents. Today we commemorate the killing of the 14,000 children under the age of 2 by King Herrod, in his attempt to kill the King of the Jews which he had been told about, but whose name he did not know.

By extension, today we also commemorate those innocents killed throughout the world, and througout history, for reasons beyond their understanding, and, often, beyond ours.

In recent years, it has also been a day when we commemorate those children who have been eliminated before their birth, for the convenience of their parents. I suppose that this day would be more greatly politicized if the people in question were aware of the Church calendar. For the most part, I suppose I’m grateful that they are not.

(Yeah, I know, politics and religion are supposed to be out of bounds here. Try to get over it.)

Oh, yeah, and today is considered to be a day of very bad luck in Scotland, and one would never travel today. In 1869, the Tay railroad bridge collapsed just as the Edinburgh train passed over it, killing all 200 people on board.