April Fools’ Day

I was interested in the history of April Fools’ Day, so I did some research. I decided to share what I found out here. It was really interesting to me.
April fools’ Day is celebrated on the first of April. People play jokes on their friends, family, and even on people they don’t know. In France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Brazil and in the US, the jokes are played all day long. However, in the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa, they are only played until noon. If you play one after noon, you are called an “April Fool.”

It is thought to have originated in Canterbury Tales (1392) by Chaucer. In there is the Nun’s Priest’s Tale and it speaks of March 32. Since March only has 31 days, people thought that April 1st was a joke. In the tale, a cock was tricked by a fox. Some people believe that Chaucer really meant 32 days after march, which would be May 2nd, but nevertheless, we celebrate it on April 1st.

There are other possible origins of April Fools’ Day that you can read at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools . This is where I got my information, as well as a few other web sites. They also have a list of pranks that people have played in the past.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html This site has even more possible origins for April Fool’s day, but I still like the one I wrote about best because I like Canterbury Tales.

Leave a comment on how your country celebrates it or if they celebrate it at all.

5 thoughts on “April Fools’ Day”

  1. Yes,April Fools’ Day is very familiar to us here too.
    I remember one April Fool’s day.
    I was tricked by one of my colleagues.
    He told me “Hey! what have you done? Your boss gets very
    upset with you!!”
    I got very worried and nervous.
    I asked myself.”What!! Why? How come? Did I do anything wrong? What should I do???”
    but soom I found it was a JOKE.
    No more Jokes. sigh

  2. LOL, work jokes are sometimes too scary to be funny! I hope no one pulls a joke on me today. I’m looking over my shoulder making sure nothing is happening! Thanks for stopping by.

  3. People often make jokes like”excuse me, you have fallen something behind, then people know it was a joke when they look back”. Last year, i received a link from my friend saying there were my pic on the internet, she shocked and didnt believe it was mine. So i wondered and clicked on very quickly, there was a big laughing face with APRIL FOOL 😀
    No one fooled me this year 🙂

  4. I’m glad no one tricked you this year. No one tricked me either this year! I did trick my oldes son and daughter a few times! I had a great day!

  5. We make practical jokes in Spain on December the 28th. It´s called the “Day of the Holy Innocents” (Día de los Santos Inocentes)

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