April Fools’ Day Origin

tasako

There are several explanations for the origin of April Fools' Day, but here is
the most plausible one. April 1st was once New Year's Day in France. In 1582,
Pope Gregory declared the adoption of his Gregorian calendar to replace the
Julian calendar and New Year's Day was officially changed to January 1st. It
took awhile for everyone in France to hear the news of this major change and
others obstinately refused to accept the new calendar, so a lot of people
continued to celebrate New Year's Day on the first of April – earning them the
name April fools. The April fools were subjected to ridicule and practical
jokes and the tradition was born. The butts of these pranks were first called
poisson d'avril or April fish because a young naive fish is easily caught. A
common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke. This
evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continues on the first day of
April.