Playing April Fool’s jokes is a centuries-old and deeply rooted tradition. There are several versions about its origin and antiquity, reports Latvijas Radio.
Today, April 1st is known in many parts of the world as the day of chasing and telling jokes, however, there is no real clarity about when and where this tradition started.
The first written news about April Fools’ jokes appeared in Western Europe in the 16th century, but it is possible that the tradition is much older. There is a version that connects the execution of April 1st jokes with the festival of the goddess Cybele celebrated in ancient Rome, whose participants dressed up in funny costumes and played pranks on their fellow citizens. The tradition probably survived in the former Roman provinces even after the cult of the goddess itself had disappeared into the past with the mighty empire.
However, April 1st jokes are also widely spread in that part of Europe to which Roman rule never reached – in Scandinavia, Poland, Ukraine, also in the Baltics.
Relatively close to April 1 is the vernal equinox, when the end of winter and the beginning of spring have been celebrated since ancient times. According to folklorists, such holidays are usually characterized by actions that are not accepted or even punishable in everyday life, and this is, of course, slaying, especially if it is allowed, for example, by children against parents or servants against the master.
As for the written sources, some see a reference to the April 1st hoax as early as the 14th century. In the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, however, this reference is quite vague. The so-called “April fish” is mentioned in the text written by the French poet Elois d’Amerval in 1508. In France, the most common April Fool’s prank is to secretly hang a picture of a fish cut out of paper to the victim, but in ancient times it was a real dead fish. The basis of the custom, most likely, is that the sun is in the constellation of Pisces on these dates.
In Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and the Philippines, it is not accepted to joke on April 1 – there it takes place on December 28.
