My sister and I jumped up and down excitedly. “Please! Please can we go!” It took a long time for us to understand my father’s explanation that the date on the paper was the first of April. We had been caught as “April Fools.”
The exact origins of the informal holiday are lost in time. It seems to have been well-established before it was ever mentioned in the written literature. But people in many cultures have been fond of playing jokes on one-another for centuries.
The oldest tradition of playing tricks is Sizdah Bedar, a Persian holiday celebrated as long ago as 534 B. C. Iranians still play jokes on the 13th day of their new year, which normally falls on April 1 or 2 of the European calendar.
In France children try to sneak up behind friends and attach a fish (poisson d’avril) without being seen. In the early twentieth century Frenchmen sent one another elaborate postcards decorated with fish. (Too bad Hallmark never discovered this one!) The poisson d’avril tradition seems to date back to 1564 when King Charles IX moved the date of the new year from the end of the Feast of the Annunciation on April 1 to January 1. Only fools and financial institutions continued to commemorate the new year in April.
In Poland the prima aprilis jokster tradition is so strong that an anti-Turkish alliance in 1683 had to be backdated to March 31!
Scottish tricksters send messengers on fool’s errands on Hunt-the-Gowk (cuckoo) Day. Their pranks are allowed to spill over to April 2.
Spanish pranksters and those in Ibero-america play tricks on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28) and call out “Innocent!” when they catch the gullible.
Wikipedia lists a huge number of pranks from spaghetti trees in Switzerland and a new “threenie” coin ($3) for Canada to the assassination of Bill Gates and the mummified remains of a dead fairy. The last sold on E-bay! There is even a site to list Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes.
The internet has opened doors to an infinite number of hoaxes not all in fun or confined to the traditional day. Be sure to check Snopes.com before you pass on the latest warning of a company’s logo being a secret Satanist symbol or offer of a free car to all customers.
Is April Fools' Day celebrated in your culture? What was the cleverest prank ever to take you in or the most successful one you ever pulled off?
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LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents. She writes fiction for children and young adults and is famous for swallowing every practical joke ever pulled on her.
I remember when my brother-in-law, then about 12 or 13, ran down the stairs, grabbed a spoon, filled it with water from the tap, ran upstairs, came back, and refilled it. On the third trip his parents asked what he was doing. He said there was a fire in his room and he was trying to put it out! They leaped out of their chairs in panic when he laughed and 'April Fooled' them.
ReplyDeleteOur local paper published false cover pages on 1st April a few years ago. I was devastated to read that our local library was to be closed down in the near furure. As I read the other headlines, I realised that the report was an April Fool's joke and that I had been completely taken in by it.
ReplyDeleteGood article, LeAnne!
ReplyDeleteSome of these far-fetched jokes I've come across today make for great story fodder!
ReplyDeleteGreat joke, Valerie. I can imagine a lot of kids wanting to imitate that one! Ruth Ann, I would be devastated if the local library closed. It what I like best about living in the States these days (after being near family!)
ReplyDeleteLeAnne, my kids had fun playing April Fools jokes. It's interesting how different countries have unique April Fools Day traditions.
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