Dwain Northey (Gen X)

This should have been yesterdays post but my head was in a different place, but I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to explore the origin of another silly day and its traditions that continue to live on.

I will attribute most of this information to the History Channels site:

April Fools’ Day—occurring on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools’ Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools’ Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.

Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.

Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens.

There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather. This is a hypothesis that I tend to agree with, Mother Nature is moody this time of year.

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 backsides, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

This strange tradition continues today with children playing prank on their parent, that they believe that they were the first ones to every think of such foolishness. There are even more malicious pranks were individuals make prank 911 calls but those are far less frequent with calls being readily identified via technology. Announcers regularly read false stories on radio shows that I presume fool some listeners. It is a day that begins the departure for the winter doldrums and starts the beginning of Spring and the closing out of another school year.

Hello spring let the season of heightened allergies begin.