April 1: It's Time for Fun!

Submitted to What's New

Creators, you bring us no end of enjoyment when you share your DIY projects. Keep the posts rolling in – we love seeing how you’re keeping busy and crafting with the kiddos! But we can all use some levity in these times of physical distancing...so today we’re talking April Fool's 🤡

Since most of us have some time on our hands, let’s start with a rundown of where the tradition began. According to Wikipedia, the origins of April Fool’s Day are:

A disputed association between April 1 and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392). In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain [rooster] Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Readers apparently understood this line to mean "32 March", i.e. April 1. However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing April 1, since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" also states that the story takes place on the day when the sun is in the signe of Taurus had y-runne Twenty degrees and one, which cannot be April 1. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon. If so, the passage would have originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381.

In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d'avril (April fool, literally "fish of April"), possibly the first reference to the celebration in France. Some writers suggest that April Fools' originated because in the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns, with a holiday that in some areas of France, specifically, ended on April 1, and those who celebrated New Year's Eve on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates by the invention of April Fools' Day. The use of January 1 as New Year's Day became common in France only in the mid-16th century, and the date was not adopted officially until 1564, by the Edict of Roussillon.

In 1561, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.

In the Netherlands, the origin of April Fools' Day is often attributed to the Dutch victory in 1572 at Brielle, where the Spanish Duke Álvarez de Toledo was defeated. Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril is a Dutch proverb, which can be translated as: "On the first of April, Alva lost his glasses." In this case, "bril" ("glasses" in Dutch) serves as a homonym for Brielle. This theory, however, provides no explanation for the international celebration of April Fools' Day.

In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the celebration as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference. On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".

Although no Biblical scholar or historian is known to have mentioned a relationship, some have expressed the belief that the origins of April Fool's Day may go back to the Genesis flood narrative. In a 1908 edition of the Harper's Weekly cartoonist Bertha R. McDonald wrote:

Authorities gravely back with it to the time of Noah and the ark. The London Public Advertiser of March 13, 1769, printed: "The mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the first day of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch".

What are your bets for where April Fool's originated? (I'm sticking with Chaucer - a true original 🤓).


Now on to some April Fool's fun! Here are a few harmless pranks that can be done in the comfort of your own homes.

From Bored Panda:

Caramel onions, anyone?!

 

Their morning shower will be mighty confusing:

 

Since many of us have someone working from home:

 

From Reader’s Digest Pranks to Play on Parents:

“[For] this harmless prank…. use a cotton swab to wipe gel food coloring around the rim of the faucet spout, right where the water comes out….Then watch and wait for them to freak out when they fill up their glass.”

 

From Best Life:

This bubble wrap trick would be a ton of fun any day - especially with kiddos!

 

If all else fails, we always have Dad Jokes.

 


 

Creator’s Studio community – how are you marking April 1? Let's keep laughing during these uncertain days - we hope you'll share your best fun and harmless pranks with us in the comments below! 

April Fools Animation Gif By gif - Find & Share on GIPHY