Been tricked as an April Fool yet? If so, while cursing your gullibility, you may want to ponder this question: What are the origins of April Fool’s Day? Our Special Agents have done some digging and here is what we’ve found!
The origins are unclear, but it’s thought that April Fool’s Day began in the 1500s when the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian. Those who forgot the change and attempted to celebrate New Year’s (previously celebrated on the 1st of April) on the wrong date were teased as “April fools”.
More details:
When the western world employed the Julian calendar, the new year began on March 25th. Festivals marking the start of the New Year were celebrated on the first day of April because March 25th fell during Holy Week. According to the most widely-believed origin postulated for April Fool’s Day, those who could be tricked into believing April 1st was still the proper day to celebrate the New Year earned the sobriquet of April fools. To this end, French peasants would unexpectedly drop in on neighbors on that day in a effort to confuse them into thinking they were receiving a New Year’s call. Out of that one jape supposedly grew the tradition of testing the patience of family and friends. But that’s only one theory. Others are:
- The timing of this day of pranks seems to be related to the arrival of spring, when nature “fools” mankind with fickle weather
- Another school of thought is that April Fool’s Day commemorates the fruitless mission of the rook who was sent out in search of land from Noah’s flood-encircled ark
- Others theorize it may have something to do with the Vernal Equinox
- Some think to tie in with the Romans’ end-of-winter celebration, Hilaria, and the end of the Celtic new year festival.
It has become tradition on the first of April to pull jokes of the harmless variety on those near and dear to us. Even the most staid among us have been known to indulge in a practical joke or two, so beware of trusting anyone on that day. However, how the custom of pranking on April 1st came about remains shrouded in mystery. Wherever and whenever the custom began, it has since evolved its own lore and set of unofficial rules.
Superstition has it that the pranking period expires at noon on 1st April and any jokes attempted after that time will call bad luck down onto the head of the perpetrator. Additionally, those who fail to respond with good humour to tricks played upon them are said to attract bad luck to themselves.
