April Fools

For over 600 years – 620 to be exact – many parts of the world have been associating the 1st April with foolishness.  The earliest association was in Chaucer’s Canterbury tales and  for the past six centuries people have been playing practical jokes on each other and pranks on each other.
 

You have to be quick off the mark in some parts of the world as, like the UK, the joking stops at noon and any tricks after noon make the prankster the “April Fool”, but in many parts of the world, including the US and Ireland the joking lasts all day. In France and Italy, children stick paper fish on each other’s backs and shout “April Fish”.

The jokes can be elaborate and have involved TV programs – think of the much respected  BBC program Panorama, which fooled legions of viewers with its infamous “spaghetti tree” hoax in 1957. See the link:

100 Best April Fool Jokes of all Time

This blogger has a distinct memory of the Daily Mirror in the 70s reporting on the need for the Coldstream Guards to keep trimming their bearskins hats which continued growing due to being worn on warm heads *blushes slightly and hangs head in shame*…….. 

But why April 1^st?  Many believe that it coincides with the Vernal Equinox and many societies would celebrate this “new year” around the beginning of April.  It was only when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1562 that New Year was celebrated on 1^st January and some people just refused to accept this huge change and such traditionalist were referred to as “April Fools” and were routinely teased and ridiculed

Other parts of the world also have celebrations of fun and tomfoolery.  The Romans had Hilaria, the end of Winter celebration, on 25^th March.  In Denmark, May 1 is known as "Maj-kat", meaning "May-cat", and is also a joking day. May 1'st is also celebrated in Sweden as an alternative joking day. When someone has been fooled in Sweden, to disclose that it was a joke, the fooler says the rhyme "April April din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill" (April, April, you stupid herring, I can fool you to wherever I want") for April 1st jokes………catchy eh? 

In Iran they play jokes on each other on the 13th day of the Persian New Year which falls on either the 1^st or 2^nd of April.  This day has been celebrated as far back as 536 BC and is known as Sizdah Bedar and is the oldest prank-tradition in the world still alive today; this fact has led many to believe that April Fools' Day has its origins in this tradition. 

However it all began and where is all began is shrouded in dispute but wherever All Fools Day is celebrated it brings with it lots of fun – mainly in the planning! – some red faces and the one day when perhaps the News is not to be taken too seriously!  Happy Fooling!

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