April Fool's Day has been celebrated for centuries in various cultures, so we're not entirely sure where it came from. A popular origin story dates back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar had the new year start at the Spring equinox, around April 1, while the Gregorian made it January 1. So when some were slow to pick up on the change, they were laughed at as "April fools." Another is an ancient Roman festival at the end of March from the cult of Cybele. Some simply attribute it to the vernal equinox and how Mother Nature messes with us in unpredictable weather. Whatever the case, we've run with it. We're always up for a good laugh, especially at someone else's expense.
There have been some classic April Fools pranks over the years. In 1957 the BBC did a TV show called Panorama that ran a segment about the Swiss spaghetti harvest. In 1998 Burger King advertised a "Left-handed Whopper" and in 2015 Cottonelle tweeted it was introducing left-handed toilet paper. Taco Bell took out a newspaper ad saying it had bought the Liberty Bell to help with the national debt. The National Park Service held a press conference to deny it and Taco Bell admitted it was donating $50,000 to the care of the bell. A Seattle comedy show showed pictures of the Space Needle on the ground, claiming it had fallen; 700 callers panicked. You Tube has a list of April fools pranks from a math teacher at Biola University in California. He prepared elaborate videos where he had to fight with the computer to get things done. Some really good stuff.
It's April 1st -- April Fool's Day. Now go out and find a prank you can pull without doing too much harm, okay? It's okay to be funny without being mean. No foolin'.
5 comments:
Happy Atheists Day everyone!
We've never done April fools in our house. My wife was born on April 1, and when she was born it was easter. So we took the bunny schtick from Easter and that became the theme of the day. We have zillions of bunnies in the house: statuettes, porcelain, stuffed, plastic charms -- you name it. Today she got a 6" statuette of a woman bunny holding a heart--kind of cute.
I also make her cake and chocolate bunnies of all sizes adorn it.
No fooling? I mean, "You're not kidding that your wife was born on April 1st?" or "Really? You don't do April fools jokes?" or "A house filled with bunnies? You're not kidding, are you?" Or maybe it was just a joke question -- "No fooling?"
Hahaha, Im wondering too if Glenn is fooling. This blog was a fun reminder of when I use to call my mom up and try to fool her on April 1. I usually "got" her!
David, good one!
100% true!
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