April Fools' Day | |
---|---|
Also called | April Fool's Day |
Type | Cultural, Western |
Significance | Practical jokes, pranks |
Observances | Comedy |
Date | 1 April |
Next time | 1 April 2025 |
Frequency | Annual |
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day [1] is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbour has been relatively common in the world historically. [2]
Although many theories have been proposed, the exact origin of April Fools' Day is not exactly known.
A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392). [3] In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on "Since March began thirty days and two," [4] [5] i.e. 32 days since March began, which is 1 April. [6] However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" also states that the story takes place on the day when the sun is "in the sign of Taurus had y-rune Twenty degrees and one," which would not be 1 April. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, "Syn March was gon". [7] If so, the passage would have originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May. [8]
In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d'avril (April fool, literally "April's fish"), possibly the first reference to the celebration in France. [9] Some historians suggest that April Fools' originated because, in the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on 25 March in most European towns, [10] with a holiday that in some areas of France, specifically, ended on 1 April, [11] [12] and those who celebrated New Year's Eve on 1 January made fun of those who celebrated on other dates by the invention of April Fools' Day. [13] The use of 1 January as New Year's Day became common in France only in the mid-16th century, [8] and that date was not adopted officially until 1564, by the Edict of Roussillon, as called for during the Council of Trent in 1563. [14] However, there are issues with this theory because there is an unambiguous reference to April Fools' Day in a 1561 poem by Flemish poet Eduard de Dene of a nobleman who sent his servant on foolish errands on 1 April, predating the change. [8] April Fools' Day was also an established tradition in Great Britain before 1 January was established as the start of the calendar year. [15] [16]
In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the celebration as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference. On 1 April 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed". [8]
Although no biblical scholar or historian is known to have mentioned a relationship, some have expressed the belief that the origins of April Fools' Day may go back to the Genesis flood narrative. In a 1908 edition of the Harper's Weekly , cartoonist Bertha R. McDonald wrote:
Some authorities gravely go back with it to the time of Noah and the ark. The London Public Advertiser of March 13, 1769, prints the following paragraph concerning this theory:
"The mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the first day of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch."— Bertha R. McDonald (1908) [2]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2023) |
Source: [17]
In Armenian culture, an April Fool prank is revealed by saying ապրիլ մեկ! which means 1 April.
In Germany, an April Fool prank is sometimes later revealed by shouting "April, April!" at the recipient, who becomes the "April fool".[ citation needed ]
In Iran, it is called "Dorugh-e Sizdah" (lie of Thirteen) and people and media prank on 13 Farvardin (Sizdah bedar) that is equivalent of 1 April. It is a tradition that takes place 13 days after the Persian new year Nowruz. On this day, people go out and leave their houses and have fun outside mostly in natural parks. Pranks have reportedly been played on this holiday since 536 BC in the Achaemenid Empire.[ citation needed ]
In Ireland, it was traditional to entrust the victim with an "important letter" to be given to a named person. That person would read the letter, then ask the victim to take it to someone else, and so on. The letter when opened contained the words "send the fool further". [18]
In Italy, France, Belgium and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, the 1 April tradition is often known as "April fish" (poisson d'avril in French, aprilvis in Dutch or pesce d'aprile in Italian). Possible pranks include attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. This fish feature is prominently present on many late 19th- to early 20th-century French April Fools' Day postcards. Many newspapers also spread a false story on April Fish Day, and a subtle reference to a fish is sometimes given as a clue to the fact that it is an April Fools' prank.[ citation needed ] Boulangeries, pâtisseries and chocolatiers in France sell chocolate fishes in their shop windows on the day. [19]
In Lebanon, an April Fool prank is revealed by saying كذبة أول نيسان (which translates to "First of April Lie") to the recipient.
Danes, Finns, Icelanders, Norwegians and Swedes celebrate April Fools' Day (aprilsnar in Danish; aprillipäivä in Finnish; aprilsnarr in Norwegian; aprilskämt in Swedish). Most news media outlets will publish exactly one false story on 1 April; for newspapers this will typically be a first-page article but not the top headline. [20]
In Poland, prima April ("First April" in Latin) as a day of pranks is a centuries-long tradition. It is a day when many pranks are played: sometimes very sophisticated hoaxes are prepared by people, media (which often cooperate to make the "information" more credible), and even public institutions. Serious activities are usually avoided; every word said on 1 April could be untrue. The conviction for this is so strong that the Polish anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I, signed on 1 April 1683, was backdated to 31 March. [21] However, for some in Poland prima April ends at noon of 1 April and prima April jokes after that hour are considered inappropriate and not classy.
In many Spanish-speaking countries (and the Philippines), "Día de los Santos Inocentes" (Holy Innocents Day) is a festivity that is very similar to April Fools' Day, but is celebrated in late December (27, 28 or 29 depending on the location).[ citation needed ] Despite this, in Galicia April Fools' Day is also traditional, as accounted by Ramón Otero Pedrayo, as "Día dos enganos", and the tradition is embedded in a traditional saying about this day being the day when donkeys go where they must not go. [22]
Turkey also has a custom of April Fools' pranks. [23] April Fools's Day is called "Nisan Balığı" (April Fish) in Turkish. Pranks and jokes are usually verbal and are revealed by shouting "Bir Nisan! / Nisan Bir!" (1 April!).
April Fools' Day is widely celebrated in Odesa and has the special local name Humorina (in Ukrainian Гуморина, Humorina). This holiday arose in 1973. [24] An April Fool prank is revealed by saying "Перше квітня — брехня всесвітня" ("Pershe kvitnya — brekhnya vsesvitnya", translating as "First of April — worldwide lies") to the recipient. The festival includes a large parade in the city centre, free concerts, street fairs and performances. Festival participants dress up in a variety of costumes and walk around the city fooling around and pranking passersby. One of the traditions on April Fools' Day is to dress up the main city monument in funny clothes. Humorina even has its own logo—a cheerful sailor in a lifebelt—whose author was the artist Arkady Tsykun. [25] During the festival, special souvenirs bearing the logo are printed and sold. Since 2010, April Fools' Day celebrations include an International Clown Festival, and both celebrated as one. In 2019, the festival was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Odesa Film Studio and all events were held with an emphasis on cinema. [26]
In the UK, an April Fool prank is sometimes later revealed by shouting "April fool!" at the recipient, who becomes the "April fool". A study in the 1950s, by folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, found that in the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, this continues to be the practice, with the custom ceasing at noon, after which time it is no longer acceptable to play pranks. [27] Thus a person playing a prank after midday is considered the "April fool" themselves. [28]
In Scotland, April Fools' Day was originally called "Huntigowk Day". [29] The name is a corruption of "hunt the gowk", gowk being Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person; alternative terms in Gaelic would be Là na Gocaireachd, "gowking day", or Là Ruith na Cuthaige, "the day of running the cuckoo". The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message that supposedly requests help of some sort. In fact, the message reads "Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile." The recipient, upon reading it, will explain they can only help if they first contact another person, and they send the victim to this next person with an identical message, with the same result. [29]
In England a "fool" is known by a few different names around the country, including "noodle", "gob", "gobby", or "noddy".
One common prank is to carefully remove the cream from an Oreo and replace it with toothpaste, and there are many similar pranks that replace an object (usually food) with another object that looks like the object but tastes different such as replacing sugar with salt and vanilla frosting with sour cream. As well as people playing pranks on one another on April Fools' Day, elaborate pranks have appeared on radio and television stations, newspapers, and websites, and have been performed by large corporations. In one famous prank in 1957, the BBC broadcast a film in their Panorama current affairs series purporting to show Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti, in what they called the Swiss spaghetti harvest. The BBC was soon flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a hoax on the news the next day. [30]
With the advent of the Internet and readily available global news services, April Fools' pranks can catch and embarrass a wider audience than ever before. [31]
28 December, the equivalent day in Spain [32] and Hispanic America, [33] [34] is also the Christian day of celebration of the Day of the Holy Innocents. The Christian celebration is a religious holiday in its own right, but the tradition of pranks is not, though the latter is observed yearly. In some regions of Hispanic America after a prank is played, the cry is made, "Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar" ("You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled!"; not to be confused with another meaning of palomita, which means "popcorn" in some dialects). [35]
In Argentina, the prankster says, "¡Que la inocencia te valga!" which roughly translates as advice to not be as gullible as the victim of the prank. In Spain, it is common to say just "¡Inocente!" (which in Spanish can mean "innocent" or "gullible"). [36]
In Colombia, the term is used as "Pásala por Inocentes", which roughly means: "Let it go; today it's Innocent's Day." [37]
In Belgium, this day is also known as the "Day of the Innocent Children" or "Day of the Stupid Children". It used to be a day where parents, grandparents, and teachers would fool the children in some way. But the celebration of this day has died out in favour of April Fools' Day. [38]
Nevertheless, on the Spanish island of Menorca, Dia d'enganyar ("Fooling day") is celebrated on 1 April because Menorca was a British possession during part of the 18th century. In Brazil, the "Dia da mentira" ("Day of the lie") is also celebrated on 1 April [36] due to the Portuguese influence.
In many English-speaking countries, mainly Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it is a custom to say "pinch and a punch for the first of the month" or an alternative, typically by children. The victim might respond with "a flick and a kick for being so quick", and the attacker might reply with "a punch in the eye for being so sly". [39]
Another custom in Britain and North America is to say "rabbit rabbit" upon waking on the first day of a month, for good luck. [40]
The practice of April Fool pranks and hoaxes is controversial. [28] [41] The mixed opinions of critics are epitomized in the reception to the 1957 BBC "spaghetti-tree hoax", in reference to which, newspapers were split over whether it was "a great joke or a terrible hoax on the public". [42]
The positive view is that April Fools' can be good for one's health because it encourages "jokes, hoaxes ... pranks, [and] belly laughs", and brings all the benefits of laughter including stress relief and reducing strain on the heart. [43] There are many "best of" April Fools' Day lists that are compiled in order to showcase the best examples of how the day is celebrated. [44] Various April Fools' campaigns have been praised for their innovation, creativity, writing, and general effort. [45]
The negative view describes April Fools' hoaxes as "creepy and manipulative", "rude" and "a little bit nasty", as well as based on Schadenfreude and deceit. [41] When genuine news or a genuine important order or warning is issued on April Fools' Day, there is risk that it will be misinterpreted as a joke and ignored – for example, when Google, known to play elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes, announced the launch of Gmail with 1-gigabyte inboxes in 2004, an era when competing webmail services offered 4-megabytes or less, many dismissed it as a joke outright. [46] [47] [48] On the other hand, sometimes stories intended as jokes are taken seriously. Either way, there can be adverse effects, such as confusion, [49] misinformation, waste of resources (especially when the hoax concerns people in danger) and even legal or commercial consequences. [50] [51]
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, various organizations and people cancelled their April Fools' Day celebrations, or advocated against observing April Fools' Day, as a mark of respect due to the large amount of tragic deaths that COVID-19 had caused up to that point, the wish to provide truthful information to counter the misinformation about the virus, and to pre-empt any attempts to incorporate the virus into any potential pranks. [52] [53] For example, Google decided not to continue "its infamous April Fools’ jokes" tradition for that year. [54] Because the pandemic was still ongoing a year later in 2021, they also decided not to do pranks that year. [55]
In Thailand, the police warned ahead of April Fools' in 2021 that posting or sharing fake news online could lead to maximum of five years imprisonment. [56]
Other examples of genuine news on 1 April mistaken as a hoax include:
Books, films, telemovies and television episodes have used April Fools' Day as their title or inspiration. Examples include Bryce Courtenay's novel April Fool's Day (1993), whose title refers to the day Courtenay's son died. The 1990s sitcom Roseanne featured an episode titled "April Fools' Day". This turned out to be intentionally misleading, as the episode was instead about Tax Day in the United States on 15 April.
Every year on 1 April, video game developer Mojang releases an April Fool's Day snapshot (an altered version of the game) for Minecraft: Java Edition (a version of Minecraft available on computers). Over the years, several April Fool's Day updates have been released. [68] [69]
The Day of the Dead is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. The observance falls during the Christian period of Allhallowtide. Some argue that there are Indigenous Mexican or ancient Aztec influences that account for the custom, and it has become a way to remember those forebears of Mexican culture. The Day of the Dead is largely seen as having a festive characteristic. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.
Joey Skaggs is an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. Skaggs is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs has used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor, and the Rev. Anthony Joseph as aliases.
The spaghetti-tree hoax was a three-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama, purportedly showing a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family "spaghetti tree". At the time spaghetti was relatively unknown in the UK, so many British people were unaware that it is made from wheat flour and water; a number of viewers afterwards contacted the BBC for advice on growing their own spaghetti trees. Decades later, CNN called this broadcast "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled".
The dihydrogen monoxide parody is a parody that involves calling water by an unfamiliar chemical name, usually "dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO), and listing some of water's properties in a particularly alarming manner, such as accelerating corrosion (rust) and causing suffocation (drowning). It often calls for dihydrogen monoxide to be banned, regulated, or labeled as dangerous. It plays into chemophobia and demonstrates how a lack of scientific literacy and an exaggerated analysis can lead to misplaced fears. The parody has been used with other chemical names for water, such as hydrogen hydroxide, dihydrogen oxide, and hydric acid. It is also used in many prank shows to scare people as they think it is a lethal acid.
Sidd Finch is a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious April Fools' Day hoax article "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated. According to Plimpton, Finch was raised in an English orphanage, learned yoga in Tibet, and could throw a fastball as fast as 168 miles per hour (270 km/h).
Christmas is one of the biggest holidays in the Philippines. As one of the two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia, the Philippines celebrates the world's longest Christmas season ; Christmas music is played as early as August. The holiday season gradually begins by September, reaching its peak in December during Christmastide, and concludes within the week after New Year's Day, more specifically on the Sunday of Epiphany; however, festivities could last until the third Sunday of January, the feast day of the Santo Niño de Cebú. Liturgically, the Christmas season is observed by the Catholic Church in the Philippines from Christmas Day to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Mount Edgecumbe is located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska, about 15 miles (24 km) west of Sitka. The dormant volcano is about 9.9 miles (16 km) east of the Queen Charlotte Fault that separates the North American and Pacific Plates, and is the highest point in the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, an area of about 100 square miles (260 km2) on Kruzof Island that also includes Crater Ridge and Shell Mountain.
Sheng Long is a character hoax related to the Street Fighter series, created by Electronic Gaming Monthly as an April Fools' prank in 1992. Conceived by editor Ken Williams due to a mistranslation suggesting the existence of a character named Sheng Long in the Capcom fighting game Street Fighter II, the publication released an article describing a method to fight the character in the game. Despite intending it to be an obvious joke, many players took it seriously, and other publications reprinted the details as fact without verifying its legitimacy causing the Sheng Long hoax spread worldwide. As a result, the magazine later acknowledged it was indeed a hoax, though revisited the concept for a similar joke in 1997. Claiming Sheng Long would appear in Street Fighter III, they provided a backstory for the character and an appearance designed by editor Mike Vallas. Despite the article trailing off and incomplete, it resulted in confusion between the North American and Japanese branches of Capcom, with the former calling the latter to ask why they had not been informed about the character.
The Taco Liberty Bell was an April Fool's Day joke played by fast food restaurant chain Taco Bell on April 1, 1996. Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in seven leading U.S. newspapers announcing that the company had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell". The ad was created by Jon Parkinson and Harvey Hoffenberg who worked at Bozell, the Taco Bell advertising agency at the time, and went on to win several industry awards. Thousands of people had called Taco Bell headquarters and the National Park Service before it was revealed at noon the same day that the story was a joke. White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry responded that the federal government was also "selling the Lincoln Memorial to Ford Motor Co. and renaming it the Lincoln-Mercury Memorial".
A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people or people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. The perpetrator of a practical joke is called a "practical joker" or "prankster". Other terms for practical jokes include gag, rib, jape, or shenanigan. Some countries in western nations make it tradition to carry out pranks on April Fools' Day and Mischief Night.
Rickrolling or a Rickroll is an Internet meme involving the unexpected appearance of the music video to the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by English singer Rick Astley. The aforementioned video has over 1.5 billion views on YouTube. The meme is a type of bait and switch, usually using a disguised hyperlink that leads to the music video. When one clicks on a seemingly unrelated link, the site with the music video loads instead of what was expected, and they have been "Rickrolled". The meme has also extended to using the song's lyrics, or singing it, in unexpected contexts. Astley himself has also been Rickrolled on several occasions.
A media prank is a type of media event, perpetrated by staged speeches, activities, or press releases, designed to trick legitimate journalists into publishing erroneous or misleading articles. The term may also refer to such stories if planted by fake journalists, as well as the false story thereby published. A media prank is a form of culture jamming generally done as performance art or a practical joke for purposes of a humorous critique of mass media.
Halloween is a celebration observed on October 31, the day before the feast of All Hallows, also known as Hallowmas or All Saint's Day. The celebrations and observances of this day occur primarily in regions of the Western world, albeit with some traditions varying significantly between geographical areas.
A prank call is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances.
Purim humor, Purim jokes, and Purim pranks are elements of joyful celebration of the holiday of Purim. Notable expressions of Purim humor of long tradition are Purim Torah read by Purim Rabbi and Purim spiel.
70. ^ "April Fools Day 2024". The Digital Article. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 01 May 2024.