With today being April 1, I thought I’d use my column this week to share some information I uncovered on the origin of April Fools’ Day.
Checking the Internet for details on the popular day, and wanting to find a reliable source, I settled on some intriguing specifics of the history of April Fools’ Day. Where else, but history.com?
According to their website, the whole thing started nearly 500 years ago. See below for more extensive details provided by the website mentioned above.
Although the day, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate 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. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled 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,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.
Nearly five centuries later, the tradition continues. With that being said, the Signal Tribune staff thought we’d add to the silliness by creating some unusual elements on the front page of this issue.
As a reward for finding them, we will give two tickets to local events to the first four readers who email us at newspaper@signaltribune.com and to the first four who call (562) 595-7900 and correctly identify the six images not usually found on our weekly first page (photos and ads do not count).
Tickets will include two passes to America’s Family Pet Expo, two tickets to Long Beach Symphony POPS! May 19 production or two tickets to the Long Beach Playhouse. Choices will be made on which tickets go to whom by the order in which we receive the first four calls and first four emails. It will be the participant’s choice- first come first served. Good luck.
