APRIL FOOL. The tradition of April 1st jokes would have several origins: if the most retained dates back to the time of King Charles IX, for others, the ban on fishing would have something to do with it…
[Mis à jour le 31 mars 2023 à 15h02] April 1st sees the birth of jokes, each funnier than the next. But where does the April Fool’s Day tradition come from? The tradition of this day of pranks, little jokes and pranks is not recent: it dates back to the 16th century, but its origins are controversial. The legend shared by most historians says that in 1564, King Charles IX would have decided that the year would no longer begin on April 1st but on January 1st. This change would have delayed the exchange of gifts and gifts which marked the beginning of the new year. To sow doubt about the actual date of the new year, some would have persisted in giving gifts in April, and over time, these small April gifts would have turned into gifts for laughs, jokes, then tricks to trap others!
But this origin is far from being definitive and there would not be a single explanation at the origin of this festival. Whether religious, or simply related to fishing! In this file, we tell you everything about the origin of this party, we give you ideas for jokes and we explain to you how to make an April Fool’s Day out of paper, by sms or fake email. Finally for children, find 10 models of April Fools to print, cut out and color!
As seen above, the calendar change operated under Charles IX, which starts the first day of the year in January and no longer in March from 1564, would be the most widespread origin of April 1 as a day of jokes . In France, the New Year until the 16th century was not celebrated on January 1, but for a whole week, until April 1, to celebrate spring. People had got into the habit of giving each other gifts. It was King Charles IX who put an end to it by fixing January 1st. At the time, April 1 also corresponded to the end of the Lenten period, when a lot of fish was eaten. When the king changed the date, not everyone got used to it and some continued to exchange gifts in April. According to legend, they were then made fun of by others and the jokes of April 1st were born like that!
But the origin of the fish associated with April 1 would be disputed and several versions exist. The ban on fishing at the beginning of April in France could be the origin of the famous “fish hooked in the back”. Indeed, during the period of fish reproduction, fishermen were “offered” a dead herring hanging from the back, which was later replaced by a paper fish. The more religious see April Fool’s Day as a symbol of Lent, Christian period when it is only allowed to eat fish, while others assure that the fish would come from the zodiac sign of the fish, the last of winter, used as an illustration in cards sent on the 1st april to symbolize the holiday at the beginning of the 20th century…
And in other countries? The tradition of the April 1st joke, originally Western, has gradually spread. It is expressed in different ways depending on the country. In English, April Fool’s Day is “April’s Fool’s Day”.. Pranks only happen in the morning in England and if you get tricked you are “a noodle”. In Scotland, be twice as vigilant as in France because pranksters can also rage on April 2. In Mexico, the only trick is to steal a friend’s property. In exchange, the victim will have sweets and a note telling him that he was tricked. There is even an Indian version of April Fool’s Day: it takes place on March 31 and is called the “Huli” holiday.
Difficult to make an anthology of the best jokes of April 1st without a little self-promotion. Every year since its creation, Linternaute.com has participated in the April 1st tradition with a full april fools homepage. Rest assured: it will be easy to understand in a second the joke in these totally offbeat fake news. And difficult to go very far in the deception: no article behind these titles in the second, even in the third degree. As soon as you click on a topic, April Fool’s Day will be revealed. See you on our homepage on April 1st!
Posted the day before April 1 last year, a post on the Facebook page of the Gendarmerie of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence caused more than one Internet user to react. The gendarmerie of Digne-les-Bains ensured to launch a “feline brigade”, photo in support of a gendarme accompanied by a cat during a speed control on a road in the department:
“If the success in terms of the fight against road insecurity is uncertain, it should be there to soften motorists” wrote the gendarmes by sharing this post on Facebook. “We had this little idea for April 1. The idea is above all to raise awareness among the general public to limit road crime. Anyway, with or without a cat, take it easy,” explained Commander Paul Boulvrais, boss of the Digne-les-Bains company, to BFM.
Another joke spotted on the web on April 1, 2022, the mobile driving assistance application Waze had launched an assault on Tinder and dating sites by offering to chat with comrades in misfortune in traffic jams:
The local news site Toulouse news had published surprising news: the creation of an urban ventriglisse station with XXL slides on the hill of Pech David in Toulouse:
Among the companies that played the game in 2022, we could also mention Burger King with a new flexiburger burger for “vegetarians not vegetarians” which offered a beef steak coupled with a vegetable steak. The art of not choosing…
Are your toddlers looking for April Fools to draw or color? You yourself remained a big fan of fish to hang behind the backs of colleagues? Hugo L’Escargot offers you a selection of fish originals to print, cut out, color in to celebrate with dignity this day of the farce that remains on April 1st.
Send a april fools card to your loved ones !
A few years ago, we collected testimonials from our readers on April 1st. Whether they found themselves in the role of trappers or trapped, they told us about their funny experiences of that day. Like Jancap, who imagined the concept of the “fishy” collective photocopier: “Draw a pretty fish with a thick marker on an A4 sheet, right in the center, 4 to 5 cm from the edges. Take a ream of white paper and put it in the tank of the photocopier. Photocopy the fish drawn on a minimum of fifty pages. Remove the ream of blank paper and insert in about fifteen places of it a few sheets of the photocopied fish. Be careful, put the fish in the correct direction so that it comes out of the photocopied side. Insert it into the paper reservoir…”
If you opt for an sms instead (read: how to send an anonymous sms), try to come up with an idea that’s funny but not too spammy. Your interlocutor should not be unduly worried. Why not send him a text message like: “You have been selected to participate in Koh Lanta with your friend Michel”. If you are the Michel in question, there is no doubt that your friend will contact you in the minute to find out why you have registered him for this reality TV game! It’s up to you to continue to lead him on or not…