As far back as April 1, 1700, pranksters in England were popularizing the tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on each other. But this day, which is also called All Fools’ Day, wasn’t just celebrated over several centuries by the English. There were many cultures celebrating this tradition for many years.
Mysterious Origins
The exact origin of April Fool’s Day emains a mystery. Stories continue to arise that show the origins of April (or All) Fool’s Day could date as far back as 1582 when France was forced (by an 1563 Council of Trent decree) to switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.
The jokes and hoaxes included having a paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish) which was said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March. This celebration involved people dressing up in disguises. April Fools’ Day was also tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.
April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.
What Happens Today
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Everyone participates – even very visible entities like newspapers, radio and TV stations and web sites, often reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled.
In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.
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.
Celebrities Get In On the Tradition
Each year there are more celebrity April Fool’s Day pranks than you can count. Here are three…
Michael Phelps pranked all of his fans in 2017 with his announcement that he would return to swimming – again – participating in the 2020 Olympics. Team USA quickly screen-grabbed Phelp’s tweet and posted it to Instagram with the caption “#aprilfools.”
The infamous pranker George Clooney celebrates April Fool’s Day year round – and his friends are well-aware of it! But most celebrities save their jokes until April Fool’s Day and often include shocking haircuts, major fake announcements and scary on-set pranks.
Star Trek star George Takei announced in 2017 that he was planning a run for Congress in 2018, targeting California’s 22nd District so he can take on Republican Devin Nunes. The truth about this statement was revealed 8 hours later when Takei tweeted a sign that read “Gotcha!”
Whatever origin you’d like to believe, the tradition is fun when celebrated with harmless jokes and pranks that are funny to everyone.
How can you prank your friends in fun and interesting ways?
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Sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-fools-tradition-popularized
http://people.com/celebrity/celebrity-aprils-fool-day-jokes-2017/
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