December 28  is the Diada dels Sants Innocents, Holy Innocents' Day, which commemorates an ancient tragedy: the slaughter, in Judea, of a large number of children under two years of age. The assassination was ordered by Herod, with the aim of killing the infant Jesus, who he was afraid would take his throne.

On this day it is traditional to perform innocentades, or pranks, where you make jibes, are facetious or mock people. Typically, the victims are the weakest people around, perhaps in memory of the murdered children. In workshops and factories it was normal for the apprentices to be the butt of their superiors' jokes, who would demand that they do impossible or ridiculous jobs.

One of the most well-known and widespread pranks is to hang llufes. These days the llufa is a figure of a person, normally cut from newspaper. In the past they were cabbage or chard leaves, rabbit skins, and so on. In fact, anything that did not weigh very much.

To hang a llufa you just need to get up close to your intended victim. When you have picked one, get as near as you can and, very carefully, stick it onto their back. If you do it well, the victim will show the llufa on for a long time, and they will be the laughing stock until someone lets them know what has happened.

We probably call these objects llufes because they weigh very little and are analogous with the souls of the slain and ethereal spirits, who, it is believed, roam the streets on the last days of the year.