I’m not a fan of April Fool’s Day pranks. It’s okay if it’s harmless, but I’ve never thought them funny. My question is, where and how did this even start?
There are a lot of theories but no definitive proof on how this day came about. The most common theory is that it started after Pope Gregory (not to be confused with my long suffering husband, St. Greg) replaced the Julian calendar with his own. The Gregorian calendar moved the first day of the year to January 1. In the Julian calendar, the year started on March 25th.
Oddly enough, people back then didn’t celebrate the new year until April 1st due to the previous week being a holy week. According to one theory, those who continued to celebrate the new year on April 1 were fools, hence it became the day of fools.
Have you ever played a prank on someone on April Fool’s Day? How did it go?
Word of warning, the best response you’ll get out of me is the squinty eye of disapproval. I must disappoint Greg. He loves to play pranks and I’m not a good sport about it.
How about you?
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All original content copyrighted by Maria Zannini 2016.
I’m totally anti-prank.
B.E. Sanderson recently posted…Cheese and Whine and a Pep Talk
BE: I think my problem is that I take everyone at their word. I get annoyed when it’s just a story to get your goat. (I happen to like my goats.)
It would be interesting to have known who played the first April Fool’s joke
Got my son really good a few years ago with an April Fool’s joke. He was off to visit his then girlfriend at the time and had to drive about 45 minutes to her place. We were living in Southern California. We told him there was an earthquake and that the roads were possibly closed. He believed us for a bit as we carried the joke further but eventually got that we were playing a prank on him.
betty
Before my mother’s passing, I played the occasional joke. But her birthday is April 1st. I don’t feel very jokester-like. Some would think after 20 years her birthday wouldn’t impact me so deeply… or there are those who understand exactly where I’m at.