Childermas
name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A religious service and holiday commemorating the supposed Massacre of the Innocents in Judea around the time of the birth of Christ, typically observed on 28 December in Western Christianity and 29 December in Eastern Christianity; in Spanish and Latin American contexts, the day is frequently filled with light-hearted pranks similar to April Fools' Day.
Etymology
From Childermas-Day, from Middle English Childermasse day, from Old English Ċildamæsse dæg, from ċilda (“children's”) + mæsse (“mass, religious service”) + dæġ (“day”), equivalent to childer + -mas.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.