David Eide – Opinion Columnist
One of the most important holidays of the year is fast approaching and I believe it’s necessary to do some serious thinking about the ideas behind it. I am of course referring to April Fools’ Day, that wonderful day where practical jokes and tomfoolery reign supreme and you cannot let down your guard lest you fall victim to a masterfully executed prank. While April Fools’ Day has shockingly not yet been made an official state holiday by the government, it is clearly one of the most recognized observations in both the United States and beyond. Hopefully, developing a deeper understanding of such a significant holiday will make it easier to avoid any mischievous antics which may be attempted this Saturday.
As befits a holiday with trickery and obfuscation at its core, the origins of April Fools’ Day are murky at best, with several distinct theories being proposed. Some attribute the association of April 1st with foolishness to the widespread adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, which switched New Year’s from the end of March to the beginning of January. Those who were a bit slow on the uptake and still celebrated New Year’s at the end of March were thus labeled April Fools’ and the traditions evolved from there. Of course, this is but one hypothesis, and some allege that the association goes back even further, all the way back to biblical times. According to these people, the association of April 1st and foolishness stems back to the story of Noah’s Ark and the first dove he sent out following the flood, which supposedly occurred on April 1st, and which returned with nothing. In some senses then, Noah would be the very first April fool if this were the case. Ultimately, however, we will likely never know the true origins of April Fools’ Day as there are just some things we were never meant to know.
April Fools’ is not just limited to American or even English-speaking countries; indeed, it is a worldwide phenomenon with different traditions depending on the country, though a base level of trickery remains. For example, in French-speaking countries, April Fools’ is known as “Poisson d’Avril”, which translates to April fish. The most prominent tradition there is attaching a paper fish to someone’s back without them knowing. Don’t ask me how this tradition got started, I have no idea even after doing a solid amount of research to try to find out. One tradition that has emerged relatively recently is the festival of Humorina held every 1st of April in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. This festival got its start in 1973 when a prominent Soviet improv comedy show was canceled, and several members of the show from Odessa started Humorina as a sort of mocking protest. At this point, the festival consists of a major parade in the center of the city featuring many oddly dressed participants, along with performances by clowns and comedians throughout the city. I must say that I admire the devotion of Odessa to the traditions of April 1st and I think seeing something like Humorina in America would be great.
One of the most famous April Fools’ traditions worldwide is the tendency for prominent media organizations and companies to formulate elaborate hoaxes designed to trick their audience. One all-time famous example of this tradition in action is the “Spaghetti Tree” hoax, wherein a BBC program in 1957 showed footage that purported to show the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from a spaghetti tree. This hoax supposedly fooled many Britons, who subsequently called the BBC offices asking for advice on how to grow their own spaghetti trees. Another famous April Fools’ hoax was the Great Blue Hill Eruption Hoax, in which a local Boston television station aired a news bulletin claiming that the eponymous hill, which isn’t a volcano, was erupting, causing many residents of the nearby town of Milton to flee their homes. This hoax, while hilarious, ultimately got the producer of that specific segment fired. Which goes to show you that just because it’s April Fools’, it doesn’t mean you can do anything you want without expecting consequences. With the advent of the internet, almost every prominent website or news organization does some kind of April Fools’ Day joke, whether it be as simple as a fake headline or as complicated as some of the pranks pulled by the content aggregator Reddit. While some can get annoyed by the fact that they can’t trust anything they read online on April 1st, I personally think it’s very amusing.
With this knowledge in hand, it should be possible to outwit anyone trying to pull a fast one over you once April Fools’ officially arrives. If you’re careful, you can ensure that anyone trying to make you an April fool will become the April fool themselves. Just make sure you don’t let your mastery of the mischievous arts go to your head because pride often goes before the fall.