Celebrated each year on April 1st, April Fool's Day/All Fool's Day is widely celebrated in many countries even though it is not considered a National Holiday anywhere. For the most part, it is simply recognized as a day when people play jokes on one another and indulge in general tomfoolery. As such, the day is marked with (generally good humored) hoaxes, pranks and other allied activities.
Though the origins of the day are uncertain, there are several theories about this. The most common belief is that it began around 1582 in France when the official calendar was reformed under Charles IX--it caused new year's day to be shifted from April 1st to January 1st instead. Communication was slower in those times and some people were rebellious about this change and continued to celebrate on April 1st anyway, causing them to be labelled 'fools'. In fact, others were mean enough to send them on 'fool's errands' or send them fake invites to parties. Another common tradition was to hook a paper fish on the back on someone else's back as a joke. This is a tradition that the French still maintain on April 1st!
This general idiocy and revelry evolved over time and spread across Europe as well but the day had a flavor of its own in each country. For example, in Scotland, the day is devoted to any joke involving the butt and has thus been nicknamed 'taily day' while in Rome the holiday is known as the Festival of Hilaria which celebrates the resurrection of the Roman god Attis! Slowly but surely, in a similar manner, this day of craziness has spread nearly everywhere!
Wherever you are, you should be prepared for people playing stupid jokes on you on April 1st! And don't believe anything you read in the newspapers on April 1--or on MensXP for that matter!
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