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==In books and film== |
==In books and film== |
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[[Bryce Courtenay]] wrote a novel called [[April Fool's Day (novel)|''April Fool's Day'']], first published in 1993.<ref name=Courtenay>{{cite book|last=Courtenay|first=Bryce|title=April Fool's Day|date=1993|publisher=W. Heinemann Australia|location=Port Melbourne, Victoria|isbn=085561479X}}</ref> In some editions the title is ''April Fool's Day: a modern tragedy''<ref>[http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/record=b1574560~S2 [[State Library of New South Wales|SLNSW |
[[Bryce Courtenay]] wrote a novel called [[April Fool's Day (novel)|''April Fool's Day'']], first published in 1993.<ref name=Courtenay>{{cite book|last=Courtenay|first=Bryce|title=April Fool's Day|date=1993|publisher=W. Heinemann Australia|location=Port Melbourne, Victoria|isbn=085561479X}}</ref> In some editions the title is ''April Fool's Day: a modern tragedy''<ref>[http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/record=b1574560~S2 [[State Library of New South Wales|SLNSW] Catalogue record],</ref>; in others, it is ''April Fool's Day: a modern love story''.<ref>[http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/record=b1625920~S2 [[State Library of New South Wales|SLNSW] Catalogue record]</ref> |
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Films, telemovies and television episodes have used April Fool's Day as their title.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/find?q=April+Fools+Day&s=all IMDb listing]</ref> |
Films, telemovies and television episodes have used April Fool's Day as their title.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/find?q=April+Fools+Day&s=all IMDb listing]</ref> |
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| April Fools' Day | |
|---|---|
 An "April Fools' Day" hoax marking the construction of the Copenhagen Metro in 2001 | |
| Also called | All Fools' Day |
| Type | Cultural, Western |
| Significance | Practical pranks |
| Observances | Comedy |
| Date | April 1 |
| Next time | 1 April 2025 |
| Frequency | annual |
April Fools' Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is an informal holiday celebrated every year on April 1. It is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated in various countries as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other, called April fools.[1] Hoax stories are also often found in the press and media on this day.
Origins
Precursors of April Fools' Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria, held March 25,[2] and the Medieval Feast of Fools, held December 28,[3] still a day on which pranks are played in Spanish-speaking countries.
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.[4][5] Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon.[6] Thus, the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. 2 May,[7] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32", i.e. April 1.[8] In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.
In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday.[9] In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.[7] In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.[7] On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".[7]
In the Middle Ages, up until the late 18th century, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation) in most European towns.[10] In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1.[2][3] Many writers suggest that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.[2] The use of January 1 as New Year's Day was common in France by the mid-16th century,[7] and this date was adopted officially in 1564 by the Edict of Roussillon.
Longstanding customs
United Kingdom
In the UK, an April fool joke is revealed by shouting "April fool!" at the recipient, who becomes the "April fool". A study in the 1950s, by folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, found that in the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, excluding Australia, the joking ceased at midday.[11] A person playing a joke after midday is the "April fool" themselves.[1]
In Scotland, April Fools' Day is traditionally called Hunt-the-Gowk Day ("gowk" is Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person), although this name has fallen into disuse. The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message requesting help of some sort. In fact, the message reads "Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile". The recipient, upon reading it, will explain he can only help if he first contacts another person, and sends the victim to this person with an identical message, with the same result.[11]
Iran
In Iran, jokes are played on the 13th day of the Persian new year (Nowruz), which falls on April 1 or April 2. This day, celebrated as far back as 536 BC,[12] is called Sizdah Bedar and is the oldest prank-tradition in the world still alive today; this fact has led many to believe that April Fools' Day has its origins in this tradition.[13]
Poland
In Poland, prima aprilis ("1 April" in Latin) is a day full of jokes; various hoaxes are prepared by people, media (which sometimes cooperate to make the "information" more credible) and even public institutions. Serious activities are usually avoided. This conviction is so strong that the anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I signed on April 1, 1683, was backdated to March 31.[14]
April fish
In Italy, France, Belgium, and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, April 1 tradition is often known as "April fish" (poisson d'avril in French or pesce d'aprile in Italian). This includes attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. Such fish feature prominently on many late 19th- to early 20th-century French April Fools' Day postcards.
April Fools' Day pranks
In 1957, the BBC pulled a prank, known as the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank, where they broadcast a fake film of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC were later flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a prank on the news the next day.[15]
Other prank days in the world
1 May is also celebrated in Sweden as an alternative joking day. When someone has been fooled in Sweden, to disclose that it was a joke, the fooler says the rhyme April april din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill ("April, April, you stupid herring, I can fool you to wherever I want") for April 1 jokes, or Aj maj måne, jag kan lura dig till Skåne ("May May moon, I can fool you into Scania") for May 1 jokes.
Both Danes and Swedes also celebrate April Fools' Day (aprilsnar in Danish). Pranks on 1 May are much less frequent. Most Swedish and Danish news media outlets will publish exactly one false story on April 1; for newspapers this will typically be a first-page article but not the top headline.[16]
December 28, the equivalent day in Spain and Ibero-America, is also the Christian day of celebration of the "Day of the Holy Innocents". The Christian celebration is a holiday in its own right, a religious one, but the tradition of pranks is not, though the latter is observed yearly. After somebody plays a joke or a prank on somebody else, the joker usually cries out, in some regions of Ibero-America: Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar ("You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled"). In Mexico, the phrase is ¡Inocente para siempre! which means "Innocent forever!". In Argentina, the prankster says ¡Que la inocencia te valga!, which roughly translates as a piece of advice on not to be as gullible as the victim of the prank. In Spain, it is common to say just ¡Inocente! (which in Spanish can mean "Innocent!", but also "Gullible!"). Nevertheless, on the Spanish island of Minorca, Dia d'enganyar ("Fooling day") is celebrated on April 1 because Menorca was a British possession during part of the 18th century.[17]
In books and film
Bryce Courtenay wrote a novel called April Fool's Day, first published in 1993.[18] In some editions the title is April Fool's Day: a modern tragedy[19]; in others, it is April Fool's Day: a modern love story.[20]
Films, telemovies and television episodes have used April Fool's Day as their title.[21]
See also
References
- ^ a b Archie Bland (April 1, 2009). "The Big Question: How did the April Fool's Day tradition begin, and what are the best tricks?". The Independent. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c "April Fools' Day". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ a b Santino, Jack (1972). All around the year: holidays and celebrations in American life. University of Illinois Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0252065163.
- ^ The Canterbury Tales: The Nun's Priest's Tale
- ^ "Chaucer in the Twenty-First Century: The Nun's Priest's Tale". University of Maine at Machias. September 21, 2007. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ Poster, Carol; Utz, Richard J. (1997). Disputatio: An International Transdisciplinary Journal of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 2, Constructions of Time in the Late Middle Ages. Northwestern University Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0810115415.
- ^ a b c d e Boese, Alex (2008). "The Origin of April Fool's Day". Museum of Hoaxes. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ Compare with Valentine's Day, a holiday that originated with a similar misunderstanding of Chaucer.
- ^ d'Amerval, Eloy (1991). Le Livre de la Deablerie. Librairie Droz. p. 70. ISBN 9782600026727.
De maint homme et de mainte fame, poisson d'Apvril vien tost a moy.
- ^ Groves, Martha (c2006). Manners and customs in the Middle Ages. New York, NY: Crabtree Pub. Co.,. p. 27. ISBN 0778713571.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ a b Opie, Iona & Peter (1960). The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. Oxford University Press. pp. 246–247. ISBN 0-940322-69-2.
- ^ "Sizdah Bedar & Purim: The Riddle of Sizdah Bedar". February 28, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ Maughan, Jennifer. "The History of April Fools' Day". Life123. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ "Origin of April Fools' Day". The Express Tribune. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ^ "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest". Retrieved November 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "April Fool's Day: 8 Interesting Things And Hoaxes You Didn't Know". International Business Times. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ^ "Avui és el Dia d'Enganyar a Menorca" (in Catalan). Vilaweb. April 1, 2003. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|trans_title=ignored (|trans-title=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Courtenay, Bryce (1993). April Fool's Day. Port Melbourne, Victoria: W. Heinemann Australia. ISBN 085561479X.
- ^ [[State Library of New South Wales|SLNSW Catalogue record],
- ^ [[State Library of New South Wales|SLNSW Catalogue record]
- ^ IMDb listing
Further reading
- Wainwright, Martin (2007). The Guardian Book of April Fool's Day. Aurum. ISBN 184513155X
External links
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
