April Fool’s Day is a day known for pranks and hoaxes around the world. It is a day where people try to outwit each other with elaborate jokes and tricks.
However, there are certain unofficial rules to ensure that you don’t end up being the fool yourself.
One of the key rules of April Fool’s Day is that any pranks or jokes should be limited to the morning hours. By noon on April 1st, all pranks should come to an end, and the perpetrators are expected to come clean. Playing a joke after noon is considered bad luck and the person behind the prank will be dubbed the official April fool.
The tradition of ending pranks at noon dates back to an 1851 passage written in a British Journal. It stated that anyone pulling a prank in the afternoon would be taunted with the words, “April fool’s gone past, you’re the biggest fool at last.”
While there are no official rules for April Fool’s Day, a good prank should not cause harm or break any laws. Traditional pranks include gluing a coin to the pavement, putting salt in a sugar bowl, or tricking someone into thinking their shoelaces are untied.
The origins of April Fool’s Day are uncertain, with various theories circulating. One theory suggests that the tradition dates back to 1564 when France changed its calendar to the modern Gregorian version, moving the New Year to January 1. Those who continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1 were considered fools.
Another theory points to Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales from 1392, where a fox tricks a rooster named Chauntecleer on “syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.” The line was interpreted by some as March 32, or April 1.
