April Fool's... its history and the first victim. and why it was named by that?
1-April Fools' Day Definition
April Fool's Day is a traditional occasion in a number of countries that falls on the first of April of each year and is famous for deceiving others. April Fool's Day is not considered a national day or legally recognized as an official celebration. Yet, it is a day when individuals are accustomed to celebrating, making jokes, and deluding one another. This joke is predominant in many nations of the world in various shadings and societies, and the majority of researchers’ opinions are that “April Fools” is a European tradition based on jokes in which some people on the first day of April launch Rumors or lies The person who believes these rumors or lies is called an "April Fool's Victim".
2-Who Invented The Name April Fools' Day?
There is no certain truth about the origin of this custom. Some opinions have suggested that the origin of this day is that many European cities continued to celebrate the beginning of the year on the first of April, as this custom began in France after the adoption of the modified calendar set by Charles IX in 1564 AD, and France was the first country It works with this calendar and until that date, the celebration of New Year's Day began on March 21 and ended on April 1 after people exchanged New Year's gifts.
Then Pope Gregory XIII came toward the finish of the sixteenth century and changed the schedule to start the year on January 1, and holiday celebrations begin on December 25, furthermore, individuals called the people who continued praising as indicated by the old schedule wry comments because they believed (April Fools), but "Canterbury Stories" by Jeffrey writer Chaucer rejected this theory and said that the tales of "April Fools" date back to the fourteenth century and before the advent of Pope Gregory XIII.
It spread to other countries and spread widely in England by the seventeenth century AD and the victim is called in France the name of the fish and in Scotland the April joke.
Others believe that there is a strong relationship between lying on the first of April and the well-known holiday of Holi in India, which is celebrated by Hindus on March 31 consistently, in which a few straightforward individuals complete bogus errands for no particular reason and propaganda, and the truth of their lies is not revealed until the evening of the first day of April.
There is another aspect of the researchers in the origin of lying, who believe that its origin dates back to the Middle Ages, as April during this period was the hour of mediation for the crazy and mentally feeble, so they are discharged at the beginning of the month and the sane people pray for them. In the name of Halloween.
Other researchers assert that April Fools' Day did not spread widely among the majority of the world's people until the nineteenth century.
In fact, all these sayings did not gain definitive evidence to prove their validity, and whether they were true or incorrect, it is certain that the rule of lying was and still is the beginning of April.
The first of April has become the day on which lies are permissible for all peoples of the world, except for the Spanish and German peoples. The reason is that this day is religiously sacred in Spain, but in Germany, it coincides with the birthday of Bismarck, the well-known German leader.
3-The Most Famous Pranks On April Fools' Day
Among the most famous lies known to the English people, who are considered the most famous people in the world to lie on the first of April, this lie that took place on the first of April 1860 AD on this day, the mail was carried to hundreds of Londoners with cards stamped with forged seals carrying an invitation to each of them to watch the annual party. to wash white lions” in the Tower of London on Sunday morning, the first of April, with the kindly request of paying nothing to the guards or their assistants, and a large crowd of gullible people hurried to the Tower of London to watch the alleged party.
There is another lie that is well-known to be used on the first of April in Britain, which is that a person sends two hundred messages to the managers of large business houses asking them to call a phone number that he specifies in his messages for a very important and urgent matter and sets the call time between eight and ten in the morning of the first of April, and the result is that The owner of the aforementioned telephone number is busy answering the calls and inquiries of managers throughout the first day of April, and this lie has hit the record in the use of it by the English people.
In addition to these funny situations, there are crying tragedies that occurred because of April Fools' Day. It happened that the kitchen of an English woman in London caught fire, so she went out to the balcony of the house asking for help, and no one came to the rescue of the poor lady, as that day was the morning of the first of April.