People all over the world celebrate the funniest day, commonly known as April Fools Day. The sound of chuckling and giggling can be heard echoing across its borders. This day may be full of pranks, tricks and gags but their origins and traditions have become a huge mystery.
Here are a few things we don’t know about the holiday and some famous pranks in history, which elaborate its origin.
#1 How did this all start?
According to Snopes, the most prevailing theory is that the day was created when the western hemisphere switched from Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1500s, effectively moving the start of the year from March 25th to Jan 1st. So basically this change caused some pranksters to trick others into believing it was a new year at the start of April.
Many nations have their own way of celebrating this day, but not a single one of them can be called the definitive inspiration for America’s April fool’s day.
#2 The holiday’s name mostly like came from a French holiday called “April Fish”
There are several theories about the holiday getting its name, but one of the most popular comes from France. The french celebrate a different version of the holiday.
Pranksters played tricks on their friends by sticking a picture of a fish in their backs and yelling “Poissons d’avril!” which means April Fish.
#3 The original recipe for fake vomit is a closely guarded secret
One of the biggest mysteries for April Fool’s aficionados, other than how the day itself came to be, is the first and original recipe for the novelty classic the plastic pile of fake vomit. The company that created it has filed it away under lock and key for more than 60 years. Fake vomit was first sold in the 1950s by Irving Fishlove, the son of the owner of the Chicago gag company H. Fish love & co. This recipe either came from the toy mastermind Marvin Glass, who created games such as mousetrap and Rock em Sock.
#4 A radio station once ordered Athens, Greece, to be evacuated.
In 1982, a radio station in Athens, Greece, released a statement saying Athens’ pollution level was so high that the city had to be evacuated. It ordered schools to close and people to abandon their cars on the side of the road. They were sued for $820,000, and the director of the network ended up resigning.
#5 The Scots and the French invented the “Kick Me” sign
Scotland’s April Fool’s Day is a bit longer than ours– two days to be exact. The second day is called “Taily Day” and involves sneaky pranks on a person’s posterior. According to the book ‘The Lore and Language of School Children which was written back in 1959 to observe the play patterns and social habits of children, jokers would take strips of paper and stick them to another student’s backside and laugh as they walked away with a new tail.
It is believed that this custom mixed with the April fish tradition from france led to kick me sign beloved by mischievous school children.
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