Hello magdalena,
When your question first appeared, I did spend quite some time looking
for possible answers, because it is a fascinating subject. However, I
did not really find anything substantial enough to serve as an answer
so decided to leave the topic to other researchers. However, I now
decided to add this comment, in case it is of any use.
The only specific information I found was an article in Warsaw Voice
of April 1, 2001 "A Day for Your Inner Child... And Skeptic"
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/old/v649/News04.html
"According to psychologist Janusz Czapinski of Warsaw University,
people generally like to fool others. "In each one of us there is a
need to misrepresent ourselves, sometimes to our own advantage. A day
like April 1 frees us of taking responsibility for our lies and we
don't have to worry about the consequences until the next day. It's
like St. Patrick's day, when drinking too much beer is no sin," he
said."
So that is one element: freeing the inner child to live one day a year
in a mischievous way without fear of punishment. Maybe that is a
route to getting more in contact with the inner child at other times.
Some general info about the inner child:
http://www.coping.org/growth/little.htm
Many of the pranks, especially those set up by the media, involve
making something untrue seem totally believable. One example put out
years ago by BBC TV was on a normally "serious" scientific programme,
where the presenter went into great details about new technology to
harvest spaghetti (yes, the pasts!) from spaghetti bushes, and
appropriate footage was shown of spaghetti bushes laden with "fruit?"
growing on an Italian hillside. Apparently, the story was believed by
many viewers. It just struck me that having our credulity mocked in
this way actually serves a very useful purpose, because it does give a
gentle reminder that not everything presented as truth by the media,
politicians, churches etc is in fact true.
Quite often there is an element of getting back at authority, in that
pranks are often played on parents, teachers and bosses, and these
cannot show offence or anger if they do not wish to be seen as
spoilsports. So maybe part of the reason for having this day is to
give people a day to let off steam in a safe way. This might have a
similar function to the role reversal of the Roman Saturnalia, which
was preceded by a similar occasion in ancient Persia, and before that
in Babylon: http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html
As for the fool, jester, sacred clown or trickster, who is in effect
the role model for all April 1st pranksters:
"The fool gets to tell the truth, the hard truths that might cause
trouble if anyone else tells them. The fool can get away with telling
the hardest truths just because he is a fool. He speaks in jest and
we laugh... We must listen because he is crazy and cannot be held
responsible for what he says. The fool plays and everybody knows that
play is not serious so he can accomplish the difficult, controversial
issues in play... Throughout human history the persona of the fool and
his mythological equivalent, the trickster, has played an essential
role, the role of change."
From a short essay on the significance of the Fool:
http://www.mythandimage.com/fool.html
Probably that is less evident in April Fool's Day, although a prank
targetted at someone's pomposity, for example, might force them into
having to examine that aspect of their character.
This is as far as I've been able to take the topic. |
