 "April Fools' Day is for pranks. But how did it all start?")
It is April 1 and you are on the look out for your family and friends pulling a prank on you as you mull over playing a trick on them. Even brands get on the fun of April Fools’ Day.
Social media will be rife with companies making absurd claims and launching non-existent products, only to come clean around midday. While all of it is in good fun, have you ever wondered where this April Fools’ Day originated from?
We will enlighten you.
History of April Fools’ Day
The origin of April Fools’ Day, an unofficial holiday in the United States, is unclear. We do not know how the tradition of indulging in practical jokes, pranks, and mild deception started on April 1.
However, historians have some clues about it. Some say that the first reference to playing harmless jokes on April 1 was documented in a story by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century.
The poem, which is about a fox pranking a rooster, reads 32 days “syn March began”. Some have deciphered it to be “32 days since March began” which would be the first day of April.
However, opponents of this theory say Chaucer was only confusing words to mock people in the poem, reported BBC.
Some historians have linked the origin of April Fools’ Day to the ancient Roman festival of “Hilaria” (Latin for joyful). It was celebrated at the end of March with people dressing up in disguises and making fun of others, including the nobility.
Historians also speculate that April 1 emerging as a prank day could be traced back to France and Holland in the 1500s. In some parts of Europe, it is celebrated as April Fish Day.
A 1561 Flemish poem by Eduard De Dene mentions a nobleman sending his servant on “fool’s errands” on April 1.
In 1582, France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar which marked January 1 as the new year.
Whereas the Julian calendar began in March, the time of the Spring Equinox.
As news travelled slowly, some people continued to celebrate the new year in the spring at the end of March through April 1, rather than on January 1.
These people were ridiculed as “April fools” and became the butt of jokes. One of the pranks was to stick a paper fish on the other person’s back and call them “poisson d’avril,” or “April fish”, reported NPR.
The first reference to “poisson d’avril” was found in a 1508 poem written by Eloy d’Amerval.
The idea of “April fish” stems from France having plentiful fish in the spring, making them easier to catch. Thus, the phrase came to symbolise a gullible person.
“It is still a common trick in France, and elsewhere in Europe, to attach a paper fish to somebody’s back on April Fools’ Day, and also to give chocolate fish as gifts,” historian Andrea Livesey told BBC.
In 1686, English antiquarian John Aubrey called it “Fooles Holy Day”, observed on April 1. This is believed to be one of the first mentions of an April Fools’ Day in English.
An excerpt from a 1708 letter to Britain’s Apollo magazine asked: “Whence proceeds the custom of making April Fools?”
ALSO READ: ATM withdrawals to cost more, changes to UPI rules. Here's what to know
Famous April Fools’ Day pranks
Media and social media have kept the tradition of April Fools’ Day alive in modern times.
In 1957, BBC aired a film on “Spaghetti Trees”. It showed a fake story of people harvesting spaghetti from trees in Switzerland, claiming the region had “an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop” that year.
The hoax was so effective that the British broadcaster was flooded with calls for advice on how to grow spaghetti trees.
NPR has also pulled a fast one on its listeners. In 1992, it ran a made-up story about Richard Nixon — played by Rich Little – announcing he was running for the US president again.
Brands have since joined in the light-hearted fun, using the beginning of April to launch “prankvertising” — a portmanteau of prank and advertising.
In 1996, Taco Bell announced they had bought Philadelphia’s iconic Liberty Bell and planned to rebrand it as the Taco Liberty Bell.
Burger King’s “Chocolate Whopper”, McDonalds “Sweet ‘N Sour sundae”, and Subway’s April Fools “subdog” are some other instances of brands getting the jump on the hijinks on April 1.
So, have you decided which silly trick you will play on your loved ones?
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
