April Fool's Day

Date

April 1st

History and Origins

April Fool's Day is not exactly a holiday; instead, it is just a fun day that gives people the excuse to be silly. There are disagreements about the history of the day, but one of the more common explanations is that this day used to be New Year's Day. In ancient Europe many people celebrated the coming of the new year with the coming of spring. One way they would celebrate spring was by giving gifts to family and friends. In 1564, the King of France decided to change the calendar and use a different one. This new calendar put New Year's in January. One problem was that many people didn't like the new day. These people decided to continue celebrating on April 1st. However, the gifts they gave became funny or worthless instead of nice or expensive.

Common Traditions

• People play tricks on each other. These tricks should never be mean or dangerous. It is usually funniest when the person being teased has forgotten what day it is.

Important Vocabulary

Silly (adjective): foolish and funny; not serious

Tricks (noun): a joke that will fool and amuse someone

Tease (verb): to joke with someone; to play. This can be mean if you are not careful.

Memories Written by Native Speakers

My grandmother loved April Fool's Day. Every year she played some crazy trick on my grandfather. One year, she put blue Kool-Aid in the shower so that when Grandpa turned the shower on, the blue dye stained his face and shoulders a lovely shade of blue. Another year she stretched clear plastic over the toilet. He couldn't tell it was there until he went to the bathroom and nothing would go in the toilet. Another year Grandma took Oreo cookies and scraped all the white frosting out of the middle. Then she put white toothpaste in the cookies and gave them to Grandpa with a big cup of milk. It was always a huge relief for Grandpa when April 1st was finally over! (Symonie, age 30, Arizona)

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Last modified April 27, 1999.