Every year on April 1st, April Fools’ Day is observed as a day to play tricks and practical jokes on others. This type of custom dates back to Roman times, when practical jokes were played on others during the Hilaria festival. April Fools’ Day has been celebrated for centuries, but its exact origins are unknown. Some believe it began in France in 1582, when New Year’s Day was moved from April 1st to January 1st, but others believe it began centuries earlier. April Fools’ Day is now widely celebrated in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Europe, and Australia.
April Fools’ Day, also known as All Fools’ Day, is observed on April 1st each year.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s book The Canterbury Tales, published in 1392, associated April 1st with folly.
April Fools’ Day pranks and hoaxes are intended to be amusing and harmless.
In 1698, an April Fools’ Day joke led several people to the Tower of London to see lions being washed.
In Scotland, April Fools’ Day is known as Huntigowk Day. In Scots, a gowk is a cuckoo or a foolish person.
April Fools’ Day is so widely celebrated in Poland that an anti-Turkish alliance signed on April 1st with Leopold 1 in 1683 had to be backdated to March 31st.
In Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the media frequently publishes a false story in honor of April Fools’ Day.
April Fish is a term used in Italy, Belgium, France, and Quebec, Canada to refer to April Fools’ Day. As part of this tradition, a paper fish is attached to someone’s back as a joke and is not noticed. This is known as ‘Poisson d’Avril.’
When New Year’s Day was moved to January 1st in France in the 16th century, some people objected. They were commonly known as April fools.
April Fools’ jokes are only permitted in Canada and England until noon.
Since 1986, press releases have been issued to announce the New York City April Fools’ Day Parade. There is no such parade.
In the 1950s, the BBC broadcast a report about a spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. This prank is widely regarded as the best April Fools’ Day prank of all time, with viewers requesting spaghetti trees in droves.
Taco Bell reported in 1996 that they had purchased the Liberty Bell and planned to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell.
In 2010, a parody web video claiming that President Obama was the “greatest president ever” and that he had kept every promise he had made was released. The National Republican Senatorial Committee released the video.
Court jesters were once thought to be wise men who could use humor to put things into perspective.
The majority of April Fools’ Day jokes involve a prank, sending someone on an errand to find something that does not exist, or convincing someone of something that is not true.
