April Fool’s Day, on April 1st, is a day where people pull funny jokes and pranks on people for a day. Although this is a very nice holiday to have, people often don’t understand the true history and purpose of it.
Some historians argue that April Fool’s was started in 1582, when people switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, the one we use today. People who didn’t switch celebrated the new year on April 1, so people made fun of them for being slow. It could have also come from the Roman festival Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated at the end of March by a cult. They went around wearing disguises and mocking people. Or maybe it could have come from the vernal equinox, where mother nature plays tricks on everybody else.
Whatever the origin, it spread through Britain. It was actually a two-day festival in Scotland. On day one, people were sent on phony tasks. On day 2, it was “Tailie Day” where people made all sorts of butt pranks.
Nowadays, everyone plays jokes on everyone. Even the media gets it, like Sports Illustrated making up a fake pitcher with a fastball of 168 miles and the BBC reporting that Swiss farmers were getting a record spaghetti crop. Even Google trolls people with odd features and jokes.
Information credit History.com
