April Fool’s Day is a celebration of mischief with a long and interesting history. Here we take a look at why the annual tradition is filled with pranks and hijinks.
April Fool’s Day falls on April 1 every year, and it is a day celebrated by playing practical jokes. Victims of these pranks are then called April fools, and those playing the tricks typically expose their mischief by shouting “April fool!”
Theories surrounding the origin of April Fool’s Day vary, making it difficult to confirm which is true. Many people believe that the tradition dates back to 1564 when France officially changed its calendar to the modern Gregorian version.
This change moved the celebration of the New Year from the last week of March to January 1, with those who continued to celebrate the end of the year on April 1 being ridiculed as fools.
However, there is also literary evidence suggesting that April Fool’s Day was celebrated even before the switch to the Gregorian calendar. Another theory states that the first link between April 1 and playing tricks can be found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales from 1392.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding its origins, April Fool’s Day continues to be celebrated worldwide. Throughout history, people have engaged in elaborate pranks and hoaxes to mark the occasion, including the famous “spaghetti harvest” broadcast by the BBC in 1957 and Burger King’s “Left-Handed Whopper” in 1998.
In more recent years, technology companies like Google have also joined in the fun with elaborate April Fool’s jokes, although some had to be canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
