April Fool : An April Fool's Day is a joke or a prank that we make on the 1st April to his acquaintances, his friends and his in family. He is also of custom to make hoaxes in the media, both written press, radio, television and on the Internet (computer hoax).
Another April Fool's Day joke is to hang a fish (often in paper) behind the back of a person you want to make fun of without them realizing it. " April Fool ! is an exclamation that is said once one of the jokes is discovered.
Origin: The phrase "April Fool" is attested in the 1466th century: its earliest known occurrence is found in the Doctrinal du temps présent by Pierre Michault, dated 1507; she designates a "go-between, intermediary, young boy responsible for carrying his master's love letters". This use is confirmed by the Livre de la Deablerie by Eloy d'Amerval, dated 15083-1. Its use to designate a "deception, traditional mystification of April XNUMXst" is not attested until the XNUMXth century: its oldest known occurrence is in The Life of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, by Jean de Labrune, dated 1691. This use entered the Dictionary of the French Academy in 1718 via the phrase "to give an April Fool" which means "to force someone to take some useless step to make fun of him”.
The origins of April Fool's Day remain obscure, but the festive tradition of people being pranked or satirized has existed in several cultures since antiquity and the Middle Ages: holidays Roman nuns of Hilaria celebrated on March 25; the Holi, Hindu festival of colours; Sizdah bedar, Persian festival; Purim, Jewish holiday; Medieval fools festival in Europe.
The writings folklorists offer many origins but these are only "vague conjectures".
A first explanation links April Fool's Day to the Easter which marks the end of young du Lent, the fish taking up a place diet important at this time. Moreover, the Christian ichthus, a graphic symbol representing a fish, is often interpreted as an acronym of the name of Jesus used from the XNUMXst century to the XNUMXth century and the word fish would be a corruption of the word Passion.
Another hypothesis, commonly taken up by the media, links the date of April 1 to the calendar reform in the XNUMXth century. In the Middle Ages, in several European cities and regions, the year began on various dates (Holidays, March 1, March 25) which corresponded according to the Julian calendar to the New Year's Day. March 25 in particular was associated with the feast of the Annunciation to Mary with the traditional to exchange gifts. In France, the calendar year began on different dates depending on the province, but in those where it began on March 25, it was common to extend the Marian feasts until April 1. King Charles IX decided, by the Edict of Roussillon in 1564, that the year would henceforth begin on January 1, a mark of the lengthening of the days, instead of the end of March, arrival of spring. Pope Gregory XIII extended this measure to all of Christendom with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582. According to legend, many people had difficulty adapting to the new calendar, others were not aware of the change and continued to celebrate April 1st according to the old traditional. To make fun of them, some took the opportunity to tell the dizzy stories for fun and give them fake fish corresponding to the end of the Lent. Thus was born the famous April Fool's Day, the day of the fools, the day of those who do not accept reality or see it differently. This calendar reform hypothesis, which was based on the fact that the traditional April Fool's Day is well attested in the 1564th century, is however contradicted because the expression or the notion of April Fool's Day is mentioned in several writings prior to 1466, in particular a poem by Pierre Michault in 1508, Le livre de la deablerie (diablerie) by the parish priest Eloy d'Amerval in 1539 or a poem in the work Testament rhetoricæ by Eduard de Dene in XNUMX.
Another origin comes from the custom in different countries to open the season de fishing April 1st or on the contrary in others to suspend it, in order to respect the reproduction period. To give a present to the fishermen, and to make fun of them a little because the fishing was either too easy (abundance day of opening), or unsuccessful (day of suspension), they were offered a herring. It is then that a habit popular would have settled: we surreptitiously hung a real fish behind people's backs. As the clothes were larger, the victims did not notice it immediately, so that the fish became more and more sticky and stinky. Thus would have been born the taste to make that day small gifts for laughs, jokes or mystifications. Here again this hypothesis is rejected, the historical archives mentioning the choice of other dates by the authorities managing the fisheries.
According to folklorist Alan Dundes, several uses seem to have in fact intermingled with that of carnival on this day which is a probable emanation of ancient coils of fertility and inversion, of festivals during which the victims of pranks are confronted with a calendar rite of passage: influence of ancient festivals, exit from the zodiac sign of Pisces (last sign of winter and last zodiac sign), April considered in the Middle Ages as the first month of spring (April 1 being fixed as a rite spring), extending the period of Lent where it is only allowed to eat fish, because the flesh of fish is not equated with meat.
In France, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, we sent each other pretty postcards all adorned with April Fools and richly decorated.
Le castle museum de Dieppe keeps a very important collection of postcards on this theme.
This custom making jokes has spread to many countries, although the fish has not always been exported at the same time:
– The Americans and the British kept their April Fool's Day (some Scottish also talk about Gowk or Cuckoo),
- In Germany, the Germans have their Aprilscherz;
- This custom also exists at Denmark, to Netherlands, riding a Belgium in Canada, riding a Italy, riding a Poland, riding a Croatia, riding a Slovenia in Portugal, to United States of America, riding a Switzerland, riding a Sweden, riding a Finland in Japan, riding a South Korea and China ;
- In Russia it is called the “day of fools” (den durakov); in Romania, it is about the “deceit/deceit of April 1st” (păcăleală of 1 aprilie);
- At Portugal and Brazil it is called "day of lies" (dia das mentiras) and "day of donkeys » (dia dos burros) Galicia (Spain).
Comparable events:
It exists in Spain and a comparable holiday, which however falls on the 28 December. It is the "Day of the Innocent Saints" (día de los santos inocentes or día de los inocentes) or "Massacre of the Innocents", which commemorates the massacre of the children of Bethlehem under the age of two ordered by Herod (according to the Gospel of Matthew 2-16). Crossed with pagan rites like the Feast of Fools, it has become the day of jokes and pranks, like the first of April. It's a little paper character that you hang on the back of the people you want to make fun of.
En India, as part of the Holi celebration, it is customary to make jokes in particular by trying to spray each other with colors. It usually takes place in March at the beginning of the spring. It depends on the Hindu calendar.
Controversy and investigation: United States of America, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation was opened after the Volkswagen company disclosed its name change to Voltswagen for the first electric vehicle release. April 2021, while this day the company does not change its name.