For tricksters and devilish more seasoned kin from one side of the planet to the other, April Blockheads’ Day, additionally called All Simpletons’ Day, is basically as enthusiastically expected as Christmas.
All things considered, what other occasion urges you to brainstorm commonsense jokes and imbecile’s tasks, from trading your companion’s keys to fooling your companion into thinking their vehicle got towed? (Not cool, Steve.)
Yet, how did this odd, trick driven occasion come to be praised in any case, and for what reason is it considered April Idiots’ Day?
Where did April Fools’ Day come from?
The true origins of April Fools’ Day remain unknown and are probably lost to history, which means trying to solve the mystery is likely itself a fool’s errand. Nevertheless, theories abound, of course.
One story goes that April Blockheads’ Day started with France’s 1564 Proclamation of Roussillon, which announced that New Year’s Day, generally saw on Easter by Christians, was moved to January 1 as France changed to the Gregorian schedule from the Julian schedule. Easter is a portable, lunar-based date yet frequently falls in April, so it’s said that early adopters named individuals commending the old New Year “April fools.”
Great one, people.
Another hypothesis proposes that April first turned into the bonehead’s vacation in the late Medieval times because of Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth century assortment, The Canterbury Stories, wherein Chaucer incorporates a perky reference to “32 Walk,” or April first, in “The Sister’s Cleric’s Story.” Notwithstanding, most researchers consider it to have been a simple replicating blunder.
Is it April Fool’s Day or April Fools’ Day?
Where does the apostrophe go? Originally, there was none!
The term April fool, for a victim of an April Fools’ Day prank, dates back to the 1600s. Early records of the holiday from the 1700s declare it April Fool Day, with an apostrophized April Fools’ Day recorded by the 1800s. This is also around when April fool came to refer to the trick itself.
Easy April Fool pranks
- Add food coloring to milk
- Freeze a bowl of cereal overnight to serve the next morning
- Replace a glass of juice with a glass of jello
- Change the computer’s default language
- Change the screen saver to an error message, such as the Blue Screen of Death
- Change a smartphone’s wallpaper to a photo of cracked glass
- Flip the computer screen display upside down
- Crank the mouse sensitivity all the way up or down
- Turn all of the clocks ahead
- Spread plastic bugs and spiders throughout the house
- Putt confetti on the ceiling fan
- Send an envelope full of glitter
April fools across the world
Yup, April Fools’ Day is celebrated all around the world. Because who doesn’t like playing an April Fools’ joke on their loved ones? Here are some examples:
In France, the fooled party is called the poisson d’avril, which literally means “April fish.” France’s customary prank involves pinning a paper fish to a friend’s back.
In Scotland, April Fools’ Day was traditionally called Gowk Day—gowk being another name for the cuckoo, a common symbol of the fool. Pranks continued into April 2, Tailie Day, when celebrants traditionally attach a “paper tail” (or a “kick me” sign) to their friends’ backs.
Brazil celebrates April 1 as Dia da Mentira, or “Lie Day,” in which people try to fool their loved ones. Always for comedic effect, of course.