April Fools Day

I have never liked April Fool's Day. I'm not someone who likes to be tricked or humiliated, which seems to be the norm for the people who like to celebrate the day. I remember one April 1st where a husband of a friend called her telling her that the draft had been instituted and former military were going to be the first to be called. She nearly had a heart attack in the middle of the mall and I thought she was going to kill him when he called back to tell her 'April Fools!' But I digress...

Today, after looking at some of the other holidays this year, I thought I would see what I could find about the history of April Fools Day. I admit to having been a little disappointed. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information on the internet about April 1st other than the next great prank that you can play on your friends. And what I did find has some uncertainty in its validity.

The popular story tells of the shift of the calender from the Julian Calender to the Gregorian Calendar. Many people did not automatically accept the Gregorian Calender so some people had shifted their dates, while others did not. So a person traveling from one area of Europe would leave on one date and arrive at his destination a week before the date he left. There was a lot of confusion at the time. That much we know to be true.
The story of April Fools says that the original New Years Day was celebrated on April 1st. However, the Gregorian calender changed this date to January 1st. Either the new did not spread very quickly or people refused to accept the change. Supposedly, the people who continued to celebrate New Years Day on April 1st were considered 'April Fools.'

However, there is some fault in this idea, because the Gregorian calender did not reach some areas until much later but the tradition of April Fools Day was already well established.

The other explanation for the holiday looks to the tradition of spring festivals in Europe. Spring was a popular time to have festivals dating back far before Christian dominance in Europe. April Fools Day could just be a product of the evolution of these fun spring festivals.

Whatever the history of this holiday, no one can deny its popularity of the holiday.