April Fool's History

No one can really say when April fool's day started for sure, but some of the earliest documentation goes back to the reign of Charles IX of France in or around 1582. According to most sources this funny holiday likely came around at the time of the change of the calendar to the Gregorian version. Changing the date New Year's Day was celebrated from March 25th to April 1^st.

This change happened of course before the day of modern technology, and so news moved very slowly by word of mouth or by mail. Therefore, you had for some many years after the change many people still celebrating the holiday on the former date. The poor uninformed souls became the "fools", the general populace could be brutal and would send them on "fools" errands, and send invitations to false events. Those souls whom had these pranks and tricks played on them became labeled "Poisson D'avril" or the "April fish", a fish that is young naïve and easily caught. Along those lines, a very common joke of the time was to hook a paper fish on the back of an "April Fish" as a joke.

Over time, the prank playing grew, changed and of course spread. With the French taking it on to Britain, Scotland, and it did eventually make its way on over to the American Colonies. Every country has its own way of celebrating April Fools Day. In England for instance all jokes must be played in the morning, it is bad luck to play a joke after noon. Those players in Portugal throw flour at their friends the Sunday before lent as a fun celebration.

April fool's Day may have started as a cruel way to taunt the less informed, or those who would not change with times, buy it has evolved since then. It is now a day in which to have some laughs with your friends, and I cannot think of a time better for us to laugh than now. So this coming April fool's Day, have a little fun, forget about the stresses of the current economy, play a prank on your friends, and loved ones.