Sunday, April 1, 2007

April fools

April Fool's Day History
The history of April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day is uncertain, but the current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved from March 25 - April 1 (new year's week) to January 1.
Communication traveled slowly in those days and some people were only informed of the change several years later. Still others, who were more rebellious refused to acknowledge the change and continued to celebrate on the last day of the former celebration, April 1. These people were labeled "fools" by the general populace, were subject to ridicule and sent on "fool errands," sent invitations to nonexistent parties and had other practical jokes played upon them. The butts of these pranks became known as a "poisson d'avril" or "April fish" because a young naive fish is easily caught. In addition, one common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke.
This harassment evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continue on the first day of April. This tradition eventually spread elsewhere like to Britain and Scotland in the 18th century and was introduced to the American colonies by the English and the French. Because of this spread to other countries, April Fool's Day has taken on an international flavor with each country celebrating the holiday in its own way. In Scotland, for instance, April Fool's Day is devoted to spoofs involving the buttocks and as such is called Taily Day. The butts of these jokes are known as April 'Gowk', another name for cuckoo bird. The origins of the "Kick Me" sign can be traced back to the Scottish observance. In England, jokes are played only in the morning. Fools are called 'gobs' or 'gobby' and the victim of a joke is called a 'noodle.' It was considered back luck to play a practical joke on someone after noon. In Rome, the holiday is known as Festival of Hilaria, celebrating the resurrection of the god Attis, is on March 25 and is also referred to as "Roman Laughing Day."
In Portugal, April Fool's Day falls on the Sunday and Monday before lent. In this celebration, many people throw flour at their friends. The Huli Festival is celebrated on March 31 in India. People play jokes on one another and smear colors on one another celebrating the arrival of Spring.
So, no matter where you happen to be in the world on April 1, don't be surprised if April fools fall playfully upon you.
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I
like this holiday for I can fool others. Of course, most of the time, I am the one who is tricked by others. I always remember one of April fool's day in my life. That happened in my first year of senior high school life. My classmates and I were so naughty that we changed our class with neighbour class in order to trick our teachers. Yeah, it was fun and smart, but our teachers were smarter than us. At the moment the teacher came in, she told us, "All right, today we have a test. Everyone has to take it!" Suddenly, we found that it wasn't fun anymore. We were fooled by our teachers. In the end, we asked her not to do that and apologized for our mistake. She just said, "Ha! You all fool by me!!" (All classmates were Orz)

3 comments:

林彥廷 said...

(@"@ it's really a long article.)
How clever your teacher is!!

Julie said...

To tell the truth~
I love April Fool's Day very very much!
Ha Ha~ XD
It's a great day~

b9505002ginger said...

Ya, I like it too^^
It's so fun to be tricked~