Historians aren’t pulling your leg when they say that no one is really sure of the origins of April Fool’s Day.
April 1, the annual day of shenanigans, pranks, tricks and hoaxes, falls on Monday this year. Although historians are unsure of the exact source of this tradition, they do know that this custom dates back centuries, at least to the European Renaissance and perhaps to Roman times. Here’s a look at what the experts are saying.
Theories, True and False, Link April Fool’s Day to Roman Times
Some believe that April Fools’ Day dates back to the Hilaria Festivals celebrated in classical Roman times. The festival took place on March 25, which in Roman terms was called the “eighth of the kalends of April,” according to the Library of Congress.
A theory linking the source of April Fool’s Day to Roman times is a hoax. In 1983, an Associated Press reporter contacted Joseph Boskin, a historian at Boston University, to discuss the origins of April Fool’s Day. Boskin told the reporter a story, assuming the facts would be verified and revealed as false.
This was not the case.
According to the story invented by Boskin, a group of jesters convinced Emperor Constantine to make one of them king for a day. The designated jester, named Kugel, declared that it would be a day of levity.
“I immediately received a phone call from an editor, who was furious, saying that I had ruined the career of a young journalist,” Boskin said in a Boston University article. “He said I lied. ‘A lie?’ I asked, “I was telling an April Fool’s story.”
Middle Ages
Some historians believe France is responsible for this humorous tradition, linking it to a calendar change that occurred in 1582, according to the History Channel. That year, France implemented the Gregorian calendar, shifting the start of the new year from the spring equinox, which usually falls around April 1, to January 1.
After the change, people who mistakenly celebrated the New Year in late March and early April were called “April Fools”.
The first clear reference to April Fool’s Day is a 1561 Flemish poem by Eduard De Dene, which tells the story of a servant sent on “an errand for fools” because it is April 1, according to the Library of Congress.
What are the famous April Fool’s pranks?
In 1957, the BBC broadcast a program about harvesting Italian spaghetti, claiming that the pasta was harvested from trees.
The BBC also ran an April Fool’s joke about flying penguins in 2008.
In Los Angeles, airline passengers were greeted with a banner reading “Welcome to Chicago” after landing on April 1, 1992. CBS Sunday morning Previously reported.
Taco Bell announced in 1996 that it had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it “Taco Liberty Bell,” according to the company.
As part of an April Fool’s Day 1997 prank, “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek traded places with “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, according to jeopardy.com.
On April 1, 2015, the streaming giant Netflix shared fake public service announcements to remind viewers to “binge responsibly.”
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