1er April is the day of innocent pranks and other harmless pranks. As far back as we can remember, April Fool’s Day has always been a delight for young and old alike. It is shared throughout Europe, the United States, Brazil, China and as far as Japan under different names: day of fools, day of lies, April Fool’s Day… However, the origin of April Fool’s Day is uncertain and drowns in the mists of time.
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For children, the custom consists of hanging or sticking, in a way clearly visible to all, a fish in paper in the back. But this festive tradition affects all ages, and has spread in the media sphere in particular, where this day of the 1er April is the time to make a hoax as believable as possible.
Where does the tradition of stuffing the 1er April ?
Traces of this expression can be found as early as the 15thand century in old writings that evoke a young boy acting as a go-between, an intermediary, responsible for carrying his master’s love letters. Other hypotheses link this 1er April to the calendar reform of the XVIand century. Indeed, in the kingdom of France and according to the provinces, the calendar year did not begin on the same date for all but we offered New Year’s gifts on the 1ster April. It’s the King Charles IX who decides by the edict of Roussillon in 1564 to start the calendar year on 1er January, a measure which was extended to the entire kingdom of Christendom, by Pope Gregory XIII with the adoption of Gregorian calendar in 1582. However, this calendar unification is not without some difficulties, some not even being aware of it. Those stunned or recalcitrant to this reform were kindly reminded of it by mockery, false gifts or jokes ” for fun “.
But then, why a fish?
It would seem that this tradition is linked, moreover, to the feasts of Easter1er April as part of the Lent, a period of fasting, where the consumption of meat was forbidden and where fish were offered. Other anecdotes come from the world of fishermen and depending on the country, fish being rare in April – season of reproduction – it was a question of making simple and gullible people believe that a peach miraculous and abundant awaited them. The fish given to them was then a pretext for mockery.
Famous April Fools
April Fool’s Day gave rise to hoaxes the most unlikely. In 1957, the very serious BBC broadcast a report showing Italian peasants busy picking on trees spaghetti. Sometimes, it was premonitory: in 1972, Antenne 2 (the current France 2) relays the announcement of the Ministry of Health of the time which prohibits smoking in public places; what was just a hoax became reality 35 years later.
The list of April fools is long: the Eiffel Tower is moving, the wind turbines cause of the slowing down of the earth’s rotation, the liver fat of storksflying penguins, left-handed hamburgers or even the development of a new biofuel operating at the farts of cows the buses of the Belgian transport company…
The SNCF knows how to have a playful spirit, displaying funny destinations on the panels: a TGV departure for Los Angeles, Papeete or Hogwarts (the school ofHarry Potter)… But, at the time of fake newsit seems that April Fools have become a daily occurrence.
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