CELEBRATION
APRIL 1, 1700
This Article Is Not About April Fool’s Day History
All about April Fool’s Day history that took place from hundreds of years ago but the origin is still unclear.
April Fool’s Day falls on April 1 every year. During April Fool’s Day, the element of pranks, jokes became a tool that often appeared and became increasingly popular in all parts of the world due to the development of the digital era today.
But the origins of April Fool’s Day are still being debated – how it started and how April 1 is celebrated as April Fool’s Day.
According to the version of Western countries, April Fool’s Day is a popular culture and even highly anticipated. Because especially in this day, someone can make pranks or jokes to others, however bad the joke or prank is, it will still be forgiven.
Records of April Fools’ celebrations were actually recorded for the first time in England on April 1, 1700. On that day, people played pranks, lied, or joked until noon, without feeling guilty or blamed.
Citing the History page, the most popular history links April Fool’s Day with the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. The New Year’s celebration which was previously celebrated every April 1 was changed to January 1.
However, not accepting the change, some people still celebrate the New Year on April 1. As a result, people who continue to celebrate the New Year on April 1 get ridicule from others. They are fooled by a group of people into whatever is said, even if it is not true. This practice then spread throughout Europe.
The most obvious celebration took place in France. After King Charles IX moved the new year to January 1, residents who still celebrate the new year in the spring, or forget about the calendar change were nicknamed ‘Poisson d’avril’ or ‘April Fish’ – people who were easily fooled.
Another possibility that can be captured about the origin of April Fools is in the Roman tradition of Hilaria, namely the spring festival held on March 25 in honor of “the first day of the year that is longer than a night”.
Hilaria itself comes from the Latin which means joyful or cheerful. The people who participated in celebrating Hilaria wore costumes and participated in the celebration then they deliberately mocked others who did not commemorate Hilaria.
Joseph Boskin, a professor from Boston University said that April Fool’s Day emerged from the idea of the comedians of the Roman empire during the reign of King Contantin I in the third to fourth centuries AD.
These royal comedians petitioned the king to allow them to be kings for just one day. And apparently, the king agreed with this petition and appointed one of his comedians named Jeter, to be king for a day on April 1st.
After becoming king, Jeter then inaugurated April 1 as the day of the impossible and now we know it as April Fools’ Day. These celebrations include games, processions, disguises, where commoners disguise themselves as nobles for devious purposes.
In some countries such as the UK and Australia and South Africa, jokes are only allowed until noon or before noon. But in other places such as Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, and the United States the jokes are free to play all day long.
Although each country has its own way of celebrating April Fool’s Day, there are still some similarities between these ways, namely making jokes.
However, during the Corona virus pandemic, various countries banned April Fool’s traditions regarding COVID-19 and gave punishment to their people if they made jokes such as in Thailand and Taiwan. The Thai state will punish its citizens by up to five years in prison if they violate it. Then, Taiwan will also give a sentence of three years in prison or be fined $160,000. Therefore, it is enough to do various jokes properly.
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