The Many Pranks of April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day is a lighthearted holiday with jokes and pranks being pulled everywhere. Most of the jokes and pranks are all in good fun and are not meant to harm anyone. April Fool's Day was originally called All Fool's Day but everyone eventually started calling it April Fool's Day.

There are lots of different theories about how April Fool's Day was started. One theory is when the date of New Year's Day was changed from April 1st to January 1st. New Year's Day was originally on March 25th but with the Holy Week starting on March 25th, New Year's was celebrated on April 1st. Once the date was moved from April 1st to January 1st France adopted the new calendar and switched the date to January 1st. However most people either refused to change from tradition or just simply forgot and still celebrated on the 1st of April therefore being called fools and having pranks being pulled on them.

Another theory is that with Spring starting in late March that "nature" must be pranking us with the weird weather changes, The weather in March one day can be really nice and the next day it could be cold and snowing.

No one knows for sure what really happened to start April Fool's Day but it really doesn't matter because the pranks keep coming each year. There are superstitions that say anyone playing a joke or prank on someone else must quit playing these jokes or pranks by noon on April 1st. If they do not quit by noon they will have bad luck for years to come. Another superstition is if a girl plays a prank on a girl then the boy she played the prank on will marry her in the future or at least have a long lasting friendship with the girl.

In the early days when April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day first started it was tradition to send people on impossible errands or taping a "please kick me sign" on someone else's back. It's not only children who play pranks on people but the media like to have their share in the fun also. They say the best prank was pulled by a news report back in 1957 on BBC's Panorama. The news report said that not only was spring coming early that year but Switzerland's spaghetti harvest was also coming early that year. They had a video backdrop with a happy peasant woman picking spaghetti off of trees. People were actually calling in and asking where they could try their hand at some homegrown pasta. The BBC Panorama's producer gave them a helpful hint by telling them that some people were having good luck by putting a little helping of spaghetti inside a can of tomato sauce.

Even teachers get into the spirit of April Fool's Day and try to get back at the students pranks. One grade school teacher in Boston comes in early every year to write that days lesson plan upside down on the black board. When the students come in looking confused and asking what it is she tells them she wrote it by standing on the ceiling.

There are many practical jokes and pranks pulled every year on April Fool's Day. Some are funny and some could even be mean but this year let's all try to make it original instead of doing the same old thing every year. This gets my imagination going wild thinking of what kind of prank I can pull on my family. The only problem I have is trying to keep a straight face.