April Fools Day Origin: Everything You Need To Know About April 1st Pranks

We all like to laugh once in a while. I know I do. However, some enjoy it more than others. Of course, I’m referring to April Fool’s Day.

April Fool’s Day occurs each year on the first day of April. On this day, people will play tricks and pull pranks on each other for fun.

Most of the pranks are harmless and cause no real upset, while some create anger, outrage, and even mass hysteria.

Over the years, there have been some rather adventurous pranks played on the general public.

• For example, in 1980, the BBC reported that the four clock faces on the famous Big Ben clock tower would be replaced by digital numeral readouts. Before it was revealed that the whole thing was a big hoax,
• in 1978, a wealthy adventurer returned from Antarctica to Australia, towing a large iceberg with the intention of selling chunks of the ice to locals. This turned out to be an elaborate hoax
• in 1998, the fast food chain Burger King released an advertisement campaign to promote a new product. The left-handed hamburger Amazingly, thousands of people fell for the prank by showing up at burger outlets asking for one of the left-handed meals.
• Initially, British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio that the planets Pluto and Jupiter would align in such a way that people on Earth would feel a change in the Earth’s gravitational pull while jumping up and down. Surprisingly, the BBC received calls from listeners claiming to have floated around the room.

April Fools Day Origin

• The first written reference to April Fool’s Day appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, published in 1392, where a mix-up with the wording of the dates refers to there being 32 days in March.
• Another origin, albeit an unlikely one, occurred in France when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1564, which meant that from then on, the new year would be celebrated on January the first and not at the end of March. Those who continued to celebrate after the change on April the first were labelled as fools.
• Other theories are that the date refers to the Roman festival of Hilaria or a revolt against Christianity when an annual day of chaos took place as a protest organised by the worshippers of demigods.

In all honesty, it would be fair to say that there is no definitive reason why April Fool’s Day really exists. April Fool’s Day is also known as All Fool’s Day in some places. To many people, the act of playing pranks and hoaxing others for fun seems childish and infantile.

However, this has not stopped people from fooling each other with their creative shenanigans.

• Have you ever played an April Fool’s joke on someone?
• Have you ever been the victim of an April Fool’s hoax?
• Did you fall for it?

In this case, having a tooth or something for something denotes that you were duped or fooled by the hoax or prank.

• You were made to look stupid.
• You were made to look like a sucker.
• You were made to look like a fool.
• You were quite the April Fool, if you will.

Prank vs Hoax

A prank is to play a trick or to fool someone with a practical joke. A hoax is a form of joke where someone pretends that something will or has happened, for instance, the occurrence of something or an example of something occurring.

What Day Is April Fools?

The first day of April is April Fool’s Day, a day to try and fool your friends with jokes and a day to have some light-hearted fun.

BBC April Fools Day Penguins

The BBC published a famous April Fool’s story about penguins. What do you think the story was?

Now I’ll give you the answer to the quiz.

The BBC claimed that their cameras in the Antarctic had captured footage of flying penguins. It was claimed these penguins would migrate to South Africa every summer.

Reason For Celebrating April Fools Day

It is commonly thought that the reason why the 1st of April is a day for tricks is due to the changing of the calendar. Currently, we use the Gregorian calendar, and the new year starts on the 1st of April. When the change was made, those who still celebrated on the first of April were mocked and called fools.

Can You Play April Fools Jokes After Midday?

On the 1st of April, we play tricks on others and try to deceive the more gullible among our friends. The more outlandish these tricks and deceptions are, the better. However, this custom should only last until midday. After midday, April Fool’s Day is over, and tricksters shouldn’t play any more tricks.

Do you have a day for fooling around in your country? Leave us a comment below.