Peter Jaskiewicz

April is upon us, and finals are getting closer. But as you all may be aware how this month kicks off with a day of jokes galore. This day is known as April Fools’ Day.

April Fools’ Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ prank. For years, these traditions have been celebrated on April 1st. But some of you may wonder why we celebrate the start of April like this.

There are many beliefs in how this all started. One belief that some historians speculate is that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. The Julian calendar states the new year begins with the spring equinox around April 1st.

But some people were slow to get the news and failed to realize that the new year moved to January 1st. Therefore, these people continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1st and became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril,” or an April fish, said to symbolize a young, “easily hooked” fish and a gullible person.

Historians might also link April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria, or Latin for joyful. This holiday was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March. Here, people would dress up in disguises and mock fellow citizens and even magistrates.

Other speculation might assume April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or the first day of spring. Here, Mother Nature was believed to fool people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” where people were sent on phony errands. Gowk means cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool. This would be followed by Tallie Day, where pranks were played on people’s derrieres, or buttocks, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

Today, people have gone to great lengths to create April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations, and websites have participated in the April 1st tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.

So I would keep your wits about you on the next April 1st. You never know when you will encounter an April Fools’ joke.