1st April: All Fools Day

The first day of April every year is celebrated throughout the world as ‘April Fools Day’ or ‘All Fools' Day’. On this day it is customary in the United States and Western Europe to play jokes on people, causing them to believe some falsehood or to go on a fruitless errand. This day has become popular in many parts of Asia also and people play pranks and teasers on others, much to the amusement and delight of all. On this day, practical jokes are a common practice. Sometimes, elaborate practical jokes are played on friends or relatives that last the entire day.

Although the history of All fools day or April fool’s Day is not very clear, yet people enjoy and delve themselves in masti and tricks on others. If we go by the details in the history, we can see that there really wasn’t a ‘first April Fool’s Day" that can be pinpointed on any calendar of the world. Yet amusingly we can find people engrossed simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of the spring.

The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. Prior to that year, the New Year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1.

However during those days, communications took days to travel and it usually traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more obstinate crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" by the general population. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on "fool’s errands" or were made the butt of other practical jokes.

Thus fun and frolic evolved, over time, into a tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April. The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the English and French. April fool’s Day thus developed into an international fun fest, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own brand of humor at the expense of their friends and families.

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