By Carol Fisher-Linn
How did April Fools’ Day begin? Why April 1? Take your pick…
As have most of us, I grew up looking forward to the jokes I might play on my family or friends on the first day of April. Not so much in my graying years, but it’s always interesting to find out how things started.
The explanation (and there are many) that makes the most sense is the story about the changing of the calendar. Our informed friends at history.com tell us this: “Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar … In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.” Lacking rapid broadcast of news people were, of course, slow to get the memo. They continued to celebrate the new year during the last week of March through April 1, as they always had. Those “in the know” took great delight in making those still uninformed the butt of jokes, calling them, you guessed it, “April Fools.” Pranks began immediately. Paper fish called “Poisson d’avril” or April fish (thank goodness they weren’t real, yukky fish) were put onto their backs. The joke of it was that young fish were easily caught, demonstrating that the April fools were gullible.
Naturally, ancient Rome got into the act, with followers of the cult of Cybele, an Anatolian (now Turkey) mother goddess; she may have been a forerunner of statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, accompanied by lionesses, which have been found in excavations. This possibly ties in to earliest April Fools’ Day hoax on record in 1698, says Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. “People in London were told to go see the annual ceremony of the washing of the lions at the Tower of London,” he says. “They showed up at the Tower of London, but”—alas— “there was no annual lion-washing ceremony.” Apparently, the hoax went on for centuries, luring unsuspecting tourists who, by the mid-nineteenth century were sold tickets to the Tower lion wash – all lyin’ – no lions.
The date is possibly linked to the end of March celebration of Hilaria (Latin for joyful). Revelers disguised themselves and ran around mocking people. Of course, there are those who blame it on Mother Nature, because she keeps fooling us with ever-changing, unpredictable weather.
Weather did play a role in Switzerland in 1957, when the BBC reported a bumper crop of spaghetti, showing people harvesting spaghetti strands from ivy growing on ceilings in restaurants, and outdoors from trees. Not a common dish for the Brits at the time, some did not realize this was a prank and even inquired how they could grow their own.
Reputable news stations jumped in and joined the fun. In 1992, National Public Radio ran a story featuring former President Richard Nixon declaring he did nothing wrong and was planning to run again. But Richard Nixon it was not. It was a paid actor passing as Nixon, who turned much of America upside down with the thoughts of him running again. Goodness!
Did you hear about Taco Bell announcing that it was poised to buy our nation’s beloved and iconic Liberty Bell and rename it Taco Liberty Bell? In 1998, Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” and Cottonelle tweeted it was introducing left-handed toilet paper. Finally, someone coming to the rescue of the southpaws.
One of my favorites was when National Geographic surprised the world when it announced via Twitter that National Geographic would no longer be publishing photographs of naked animals as of 2016: “The media group says that it will no longer degrade animals by showing photos of them without clothes.” Readers who followed through on the story were greeted with “April Fools” and a gallery of adorably dressed puppies and kittens.
What’s your favorite April fool’s joke? Salt in the sugar bowl? Saran wrap over the toilet bowl? Short sheeting someone’s bed? Ever replace the frosting in Oreos with cream cheese? Change out pictures on walls or turn them upside down. Put baby’s socks in a teenagers sock drawer (if they are that organized!). Make your own April Fools’ history and have a fun but harmless April Fools’ Day.