April Fools’ Day is a light-hearted comedic day of cheers, practical jokes, and hoaxes. April Fools’ Day is celebrated yearly on the 1st Day of April. Though the Day has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain unclear.
In the UK, people make pranks to fool another person. If the pranker manages fooling the person they shout out “April fool!”. In the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, the joking ceased at midday. As a result, after this time, it is no longer acceptable to play pranks. Thus people playing a prank after midday appear to be “April fool” themselves.
April Fools’ Day. Origins
The April Fool’s Day has been celebrated for centuries although its origins still remain mystery.
However, there are different opinions over the origins of the Day. For example, some scholars say that in ancient Roman and Hindu cultures, the day originally marked New Year’s Day. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued the Gregorian calendar which moved New Year’s Day from April 1st to January 1st. Thus those who continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st were fools, leading to the concept of April 1st representing All Fools’ Day. It has also been suggested that April Fools’ Day is related to the vernal equinox, the beginning of spring, when Mother Nature plays sudden weather tricks on people.
Others make a link between the April 1 and foolishness in Geoffrey Chaucer‘s famous The Canterbury Tales (1392).
A Joke
Johnny walks into a barber shop and asks if they have oranges for sale
Barber: What the hell is wrong with you? This is a barber shop. We don’t have oranges.
Johnny: Ok, thanks.
The next day he goes back again and asks the same thing.
Barber: Dude, I told you yesterday. This is a barber shop, hence we don’t have oranges here for sale.
Johnny: Alright, thank you.
Same story the next day. Barber gets angry but decides to get some oranges in case he comes back.
In the morning Johnny walks into the shop and says
Johnny: do you have apples for sale?
Barber (confused): No, but I have oranges.
Johnny: No thanks. I just got oranges from the shoe store down the street. Now I need apples.
By the way we are offering jewellery and not oranges. Want oranges? Go to a supermarket.
