Why April 1 is Fool's day? History of April Fool's Day.

ABOUT APRIL FOOL DAY

There’s no question that April Fools’ Day is one of the most widely recognized non-religious holidays in the Western world. Children prank parents, coworkers prank coworkers, and yes, national news outlets and fast-food restaurants still prank their readers. But why? What is the origin of April Fools’ Day, and how did it become an international phenomenon? The totally-legit, not-pulling-your-leg answer to the origin of April Fools’ Day is: Nobody really knows.

April Fools' Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is celebrated every year on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in any country.

While historians still remain unsure about the precise roots of April fools day, the most popular explanation of its beginnings is considered to lay in the change of calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian one. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ruled the new calendar to start from January 1, instead of the hitherto celebration of new year in the end of March. This change in the annual calendar was first brought into practice by France. However, a large number of people all across Europe continued with the Julian calendar. As a result, those who adopted the new calendar started referring to the ones who refused to change as ‘fools’, thereby marking the beginning of a tradition that we would go on to observe in the coming centuries.

However, this popular explanation for April fools day does not add up to the fact that not every country in Europe switched to the Gregorian calendar at the same time. For instance, England did not adopt the new calendar until 1752. However, the concept of April fools was well known there by then.

One other explanation for the origin of this tradition is that of the spring time custom of light hearted merriment that is believed to have been observed across several parts of the world for centuries. For instance, in ancient Rome a festival called ‘Hilaria’ was celebrated on the last week of March, as the day on which God Attis was resurrected. Similarly in India Holi is celebrated during the same time of the year as an occasion for playful jubilation by spraying colors on each other. Perhaps we can find the origins of April fools day in the overall atmosphere of merrymaking that has been observed world over for centuries during the time of the year when winter gives way to spring.