April Fool’s Day
April Fool’s Day is on 1 April. It’s the custom in the UK to play a trick or a joke on someone on this day. If the person falls for the joke, then they are called an ‘April Fool’. In fact, it’s only half a day because April Fool’s Day finishes at midday. No more jokes after lunchtime, please!
Although the day has been observed for centuries, its true origins are unknown. Some historians speculate that April Fool’s Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.”
Historians have also linked April Fool’s Day to festivals such as Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens and was said to be inspired by the Egyptian legend of Isis, Osiris and Seth.
Here are some April Fool’s tricks from around the world:
· In the 1990s Burger King published an advert in the magazine USA Today offering new ‘Left-handed Whoppers’ (hamburgers) for the 32 million left-handed Americans! Thousands of customers ordered the new burger in the restaurants.
· A zoo in Japan said that they had a giant penguin that was 165cm tall and weighed 80kg! In fact, it was a man dressed up in a penguin suit.
· In 1949 a radio presenter in New Zealand told listeners that there were millions of wasps coming to invade. He told viewers to wear their socks over their trousers and to put honey on their doors. Millions of listeners believed him!
· Ikea announced that the shop had launched a dog highchair (highchairs are usually for babies!) named 'HUNDSTOL' (Swedish for dog chair). Google ‘IKEA dog high chair’ for more details.
· The free London newspaper, Metro, came up with a novel idea to deal with the problem of litter on the underground (unfortunately it was only a joke). They said that the newspaper was now edible – ‘the only paper that you can eat after reading’.
· A British newspaper announced that Portugal had ‘sold’ Cristiano Ronaldo, the footballer, to Spain for €160 million. Why? To try to clear its national debt. It was a joke, of course.
Bormotova N.E., English teacher