Good morning Magdalena!
What a fun question!
Would you believe that the tradition of April Fools Day has very
little to do with myth, and almost everything to do with culture?
InfoPlease Encyclopedia calls the holiday one of "uncertain origin":
"April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day,holiday of uncertain origin, known
for practical joking and celebrated on the first of April. Prior to
the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1564, the date was observed
as New Year's Day by cultures as varied as the Roman and the Hindu.
The holiday is considered to be related to the festival of the vernal
equinox, which occurs on Mar. 21. The English gave April Fool's Day
its first widespread celebration during the 18th cent."
April Fools Day
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0804428.html
According to a variety of sources, it is commonly accepted that April
Fools Day (or All Fools Day) came about as a result of the switch from
the Julian Calendar to our "modern" Gregorian Calendar (created by
Pope Gregory) in 1582.
The old Julian Calendar, in use in ancient Roman times, followed the
seasons pretty closely. The start of the New Year coincided with
Spring under that calendar - New Year's Week was celebrated from March
25th to April 1st, just after the Vernal Equinox. Festivals to
celebrate the New Year were typically held on April 1st, so as not to
interfere with Holy Week. When King Charles IX accepted Pope
Gregory's new calendar, it called for New Year's Day to be celebrated
on January 1st.
From here, opinion divides.
Some sources claim that some French just flat out refused to celebrate
New Year's Day on January 1st, preferring to continue celebrating on
April 1st. Those who adopted the Gregorian Calendar began making fun
of those who still insisted on celebrating the "old" holiday. To show
their scorn, they would send these slow to adopt folk on "fool's
errands" and try to play tricks on them or mislead them.
Traditionalists were often given prank gifts and invited to
non-existent parties.
The French named these traditionalists "poisson de Avril" - April Fish
- because springtime fish are young and easily caught or tricked.
Other sources claim that New Year's Day enjoyed continued April 1st
celebration because of slow communication - people didn't learn of the
switch to the new calendar for several years after, and simply
continued to celebrate the old holiday. Those who finally brought
news of the switch made fun of the "fools" who had been celebrating on
the "wrong" day.
Eventually, in 1752, Great Britain accepted the new calendar, and the
practice of celebrating All Fools spread throughout the UK and her
colonies, including the US. Since then, the holiday has evolved into
the day of lighthearted pranking and mischief that we know today.
Sources used for this summary:
April Fools Day
http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/other/aprlfool.html
History of April Fool's Day
http://www.april-fools.us/history-april-fools.htm
April Fool's Day Has Serious Origins
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html
April Fool's Day History
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p593.htm
The history of April fool's day
http://oh.essortment.com/aprilfooldayh_rltw.htm
Origins of April Fools Day
http://www.southcom.com.au/~seymour/aprilfool/april.htm
April Fool's Day
http://aprilfools.holiday.com/
April Fool's Day
http://worldbook.bigchalk.com/026900.htm
April Fools!
http://www.fi.edu/qa99/spotlight4/index.html
Celebrate Holidays in the USA - April Fools Day
http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/april.html
Of course, there are other ideas associated with the origins of the
holiday. According to Barbara Mikkelson at Snopes.com, the holiday is
also attributed to the following:
"# The timing of this day of pranks seems to be related to the
arrival of spring, when nature "fools" mankind with fickle weather,
according to the Encyclopedia of Religion and the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
# The Country Diary of Garden Lore, which chronicles the goings-on in
an English garden, says that April Fools' Day "is thought to
commemorate the fruitless mission of the rook (the European crow), who
was sent out in search of land from Noah's flood-encircled ark."
# Others theorize it may have something to do with the Vernal Equinox.
# Some think to tie in with the Romans' end-of-winter celebration,
Hilaria, and the end of the Celtic new year festival."
Urban Legends - April Fools Day
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/april/aprlfool.htm
The Legend section of the Universal Quest Newsletter claims April
Fools Day to be a descendant of the old Norse "Feast Of Fools" (thanks
to nellie_bly-ga for the link and hint):
"April 1 was April Fool's Day all over the world. This tradition has
its roots in the ancient Teutonic celebration "The Feast of Fools"
ruled by the trickster god Loki."
Universal Quest Newsletter - April 4th, 2000
http://www.universalquest.com/news1.htm
For more information about April Fools Day, including links to hoaxes
and histories, and a couple *anti* April Fools pages, I've assembled a
list of resources for you:
April Fools Info
http://www.april-fools.info/
Media Responsibility in the Modern Era
http://www.adequacy.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2002/3/31/154751/181
PRANKLY SPEAKING: UA's Lunar and Planetary Lab students get creative
with their April Fools' Day efforts.
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/grad/April_Fools/citizen_article.html
"April Fools' Day" Encyclopędia Britannica Retrieved January 20, 2003,
from Encyclopędia Britannica Online.
http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=8205
April Fools Day @ Computing Corner
http://www.computingcorner.com/holidays/aprilfool/aprilfool.htm
The Top Ten April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/topten1.html
April Fools @ Discover
http://www.discover.com/science_news/fool.html
April Fools Message of The Day (great fun for engineers and other
geeks!)
http://www.engr.utk.edu/~winston/fool.html
"Hilaria" Encyclopędia Britannica Retrieved January 20, 2003, from
Encyclopędia Britannica Online.
http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=41301
The Hoax Files
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/hoax1.html
I hope you find this answer helpful! If you need further assistance,
please don't hesitate to ask for a clarification. I'll be happy to
lend additional help!
-- Missy
Search terms: [ "April Fools" history OR origins ] |
