The Origins Of April Fools Day
Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s butts, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them. Hunting the gowk sounds like the origins of a good old fashioned snipe hunt.
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.
In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. In 1985, Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton tricked many readers when he ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.
In 1992, National Public Radio ran a spot with former President Richard Nixon saying he was running for president again… only it was an actor, not Nixon, and the segment was all an April Fools’ Day prank that caught the country by surprise.
In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich. Google notoriously hosts an annual April Fools’ Day prank that has included everything from “telepathic search” to the ability to play Pac Man on Google Maps.
For the average trickster, there is always the classic April Fools’ Day prank of covering the toilet with plastic wrap or swapping the contents of sugar and salt containers.
One year, some pranksters in Copenhagen, Denmark (with the permission of the city) built a fake subway car in a single night and made it look like it had crashed through to the street above.
One time, when I was a kid living with my folks in California, my dad got together with our landlord and they concoted a gag to make my mom, my brother, and myself think we were being evicted from the house. After several minutes of fake arguing (for my mom it was real) my dad and our landlord had a great laugh. My mom was not amused. I don’t think she spoke to him for a week – after she finished yelling at him for a half hour!
The only advice I am willing to give on this is, if you are thinking of pulling a prank, ask yourself, “If someone did this to me, would I take it with good humor or would I be pissed?” If you would be pissed, then don’t do it. As the old saying goes: Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.
Stay safe, hail victory, and Happy April Fool’s Day!
Dan Schneider
Deputy Chairman
American Nazi Party