Ahh, April Fool’s Day. It has never been my favorite. My husband, on the other hand, loves it. And he’s pretty good at his tricks, I have to give him that. I just hate feeling like I have to be on the alert all day long for something that might be a lie. Or a trick, like putting hemorrhoid cream in my toothpaste tube.
As I mentioned before, on behalf of my former coworker, I said that I would look into April Fool’s Day. I found a lot of information, though nobody really knows where it started—just that it has been around forever.
The first thought is that it could be as old as ancient Rome and the festival of Hilaria (joyful) by the followers of Cybele, inspired by an Egyptian legend of Isis and Osiris (and some dude named Seth). It involved dressing in disguises, teasing each other, and of course, partying.
Wikipedia and History.com both mention Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from 1392 as a possibility of April Fools’ beginning. They also mentioned France and poisson d’avril (April’s Fish) from a poem in 1508. Others say it goes back to 1582 when France switched to the Gregorian calendar. At this point, some were celebrating the new year in January, and others in March, ending April 1. The people using the “new” calendar referred to the uninformed old calendar people as “fools.” There are reasons why each of these potential beginnings is suspect. As history.com says, “Its exact history is shrouded in mystery.”
Returning to France’s “April’s Fish,” poisson d’avril, it was with this version that the “tease” or “trick” started to occur. The tricks on the fool weren’t too elaborate. Paper fish were put on people’s backs, and they were called “April fish.” In later years, the celebration was accompanied by bread, pastries, and chocolates in the shape of fish.
Skipping ahead to today, there are many countries that practice April Fools traditions, including much of Europe, Turkey, Armenia, Poland, Ukraine, the Nordic countries, and more.
History.com provides us with this information about some of the pranks that have happened over the years:
- In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees [KC – And vines. See photo below.]
- In 1992, National Public Radio ran a spot with former President Richard Nixon saying he was running for president again… only it was an actor, not Nixon, and the segment was all an April Fools’ Day prank that caught the country by surprise.
- In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell.
- In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
- Google™ notoriously hosts an annual April Fools’ Day prank that has included everything from “telepathic search” to the ability to play Pac-Man on Google Maps™.
I’m glad I’m working from home this April Fool’s Day! I’ll be careful to check anything my husband says with Snopes!
Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory
Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com
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