Today is April Fools Day, a day of benign jokes and foolishness. There have been some real efforts made at it. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
The origin of April Fools Day is uncertain. The best explanation is the confusion caused by the changing of the New Year from April First to January First.
Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1.
It is said that some refused to accept the new calendar and became the object of ridicule at that time of year.
In a great story, Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.
"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."
This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. Wonderfully, Boskin had made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.
Many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis (a Phrygian vegetation god of death and resurrection). The Hindu calendar has Holi (a Spring festival known as the Festival of Colors), and the Jewish calendar has Purim (commemorating the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman's plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”)
Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.
The origin of April Fools Day is uncertain. The best explanation is the confusion caused by the changing of the New Year from April First to January First.
Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1.
It is said that some refused to accept the new calendar and became the object of ridicule at that time of year.
In a great story, Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.
"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."
This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. Wonderfully, Boskin had made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.
Many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis (a Phrygian vegetation god of death and resurrection). The Hindu calendar has Holi (a Spring festival known as the Festival of Colors), and the Jewish calendar has Purim (commemorating the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman's plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”)
Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.
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