April Fools Day Information

- Not an actual holiday anywhere
- Typically celebrated in the US on April 1
- Also known as All Fools Day
- Some scholars believe the day is a leftover from pagan Rites of SpringNational Geographic: April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs (March 28, 2008)
- Others believe that Roman period jesters persuaded their rulers to be "king for the day"National Geographic: April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs (March 28, 2008)
- Still others believe it is associated with the adoption of the Gregorian calendarNational Geographic: April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs (March 28, 2008)
- Is the theme of the 1986 movie, April Fools Day
- In France, children tape paper fish to their friends' backs, and yell, "Poisson d’Avril!" (April Fish!)
- In Germany and Norway, April fools is celebrated on April 1 and April 30

April Fools Day is celebrated each year in the United States and many other countries on the first day of April. On this day, people traditionally attempt to trick one another with jokes and hoaxes, feed one another surprisingly flavored food and generally have a ridiculously good time. More recently, businesses, media outlets and other institutions play pranks on the general public, salting their newspapers and television programs with hoax news stories.
Famous April Fool Pranks

One famous prank, chosen by the Museum of Hoaxes as the top April Fools Joke of all time, was played by the BBC in 1957. The normally dignified television aired a documentary that showed Swiss farmers having a bumper crop of spaghetti that year. The report featured images of people plucking limp strands of pasta from trees. Some people called the news station to ask where they could get their own spaghetti trees! The BBCs recommendation? "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."Museum of Hoaxes: The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
April Fools Day and the Gregorian Calendar

One persistent theory about the origin of April Fools Day is that the practice began as a political commentary associated with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in France. The theory is that in 1564, Charles IX ruled that the French would adopt the new calendar by celebrating New Year's Day on the first day of January. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the new year was celebrated between March 25 and April 1, to coincide with the onset of Spring.
Some people refused to adopt the new custom and continued to celebrate the new year in the spring. These hidebound traditionalists came to be known as "April Fools", and were the butt of jokes, pranks, and hoaxes played upon them by the adopters, who believed themselves to be more sophisticated. The gullible were sent on "Fool's Errands" to find non-existent items and animals, much like the fabled snipe-hunt.National Geographic: April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs (March 28, 2008)