April Fools History

April Fools’ Day—occurring on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.

Origins of April Fools' Day Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Hilaria in Ancient Rome Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to festivals such as Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March by followers of the cult of Cybele. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens and even magistrates and was said to be inspired by the Egyptian legend of Isis, Osiris and Seth. There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

History of April Fools' Day April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

April Fools' Day Pranks In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. In 1985, Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton tricked many readers when he ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.

In 1992, National Public Radio ran a spot with former President Richard Nixon saying he was running for president again… only it was an actor, not Nixon, and the segment was all an April Fools' Day prank that caught the country by surprise. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell.

In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich. Google notoriously hosts an annual April Fools' Day prank that has included everything from “telepathic search” to the ability to play Pac Man on Google Maps. For the average trickster, there is always the classic April Fools' Day prank of covering the toilet with plastic wrap or swapping the contents of sugar and salt containers.

April Fools’ Day, in most countries the first day of April. It received its name from the custom of playing practical jokes on this day—for example, telling friends that their shoelaces are untied or sending them on so-called fools’ errands. Although the day has been observed for centuries, its true origins are unknown and effectively unknowable. It resembles festivals such as the Hilaria of ancient Rome, held on March 25, and Holi, the Hindu spring festival celebrated on the full-moon day of Phalguna (February–March).

Some have proposed that the modern custom originated in France, officially with the Edict of Roussillon (promulgated in August 1564), in which Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, as had been common throughout Christendom, but rather on January 1. Because Easter was a lunar and therefore moveable date, those who clung to the old ways were the “April Fools.” Others have suggested that the timing of the day may be related to the vernal equinox (March 21), a time when people are fooled by sudden changes in the weather. There are variations between countries in the celebration of April Fools’ Day, but all have in common an excuse to make someone play the fool. In France, for example, the fooled person is called poisson d’avril (“April fish”), perhaps in reference to a young fish and hence to one that is easily caught; it is common for French children to pin a paper fish to the backs of unsuspecting friends. In Scotland the day is Gowkie Day or Hunt the Gowk; the gowk, or cuckoo, is a symbol of the fool. On the following day (Tailie Day) signs reading “kick me” are pinned to friends’ backs. In many countries newspapers and the other media participate—for example, with false headlines or news stories.

Notable April Fools’ Day pranks In what may be the first televised April Fools’ Day hoax, the BBC aired a segment in 1957 that featured spaghetti-growing trees in Switzerland. The broadcast claimed that the dreaded spaghetti weevil had been eradicated, leading to a bumper crop of spaghetti. The BBC even aired clips of people “harvesting” the spaghetti. CNN later called it “undoubtedly the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled.” The BBC was back at it in 1965 when it interviewed a professor who had invented “Smellovision,” a new technology that allowed for the transmission of aromas through a television screen. Following a demonstration, numerous viewers called the BBC to confirm that they had detected the scents.

In 1996 Taco Bell announced that it had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. The restaurant chain claimed that the acquisition was to help with the U.S. debt. (The Liberty Bell is actually owned by the city of Philadelphia, though the National Park Service [NPS] maintains it.) The news upset many Americans, and the NPS was forced to hold a press conference that refuted Taco Bell’s claim. In 1977 The Guardian newspaper printed a travel supplement on San Serriffe, an island republic in the tropics. The text was filled with printing and typesetting terms—from the name of the island (inspired by sans serif typeface) to the shape of the island (a semicolon) to the island’s dictator, General M.J. Pica (the last name was a reference to a unit of typographic measurement). In 1992 NPR declared that Richard Nixon, who resigned as president in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal, was entering that year’s presidential race. The radio network said his slogan was “I never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”