On April 1st, we celebrate April Fools' Day, a day for playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The victims are called April fools and the jokes are exposed by shouting "April fool".
History of April Fools' Day
We could not find one specific date or theorize about April Fools' Day origin. Here is what we found:
- when the Julian and the Gregorian calendar were introduced, and the New Year date was changed, the people who forgot about the change were victims of various jokes,
- In France, pranksters would stick paper fish to their victims' back and called them Poisson d'Avril (April Fish),
- a more biblical approach said that Noah was the first "April Fool", as he mistakenly sent the dove to find dry land before the waters calmed down,
- another biblical story said that Jesus was sent from Pontius Pilate to Herod and back which is an old term for a fool's errand.
How to celebrate April Fools' Day?
Well, you can play a prank on your work colleagues or friends. If you are a company you can even play a prank on your customers. For example in 2002, Tesco, the British supermarket chain, published an advertisement announcing the whistling carrot. The ad explained that when the carrots were fully cooked they will whistle through some air holes in their side. Dc Comics even made an issue of Harley Quinn for April Fools' Day. You can have a look down below.
