Old Customs
The Babes of Bethlehem
It is an ancient custom at Norton, near Evesham, on the 28th of December (Innocents’ Day) to ring a muffled peal, in token of sorrow for the slaughter of the hapless “babes of Bethlehem,” and, immediately afterwards, an unmuffled peal, in manifestation of joy for the deliverance and escape of the infant Saviour.