April Fools’ Day is awful. Please stand with John Oliver and take the Last Week Tonight No-Prank Pledge.
The
Origin Of April Fools Day
The custom of setting aside a day for the playing of
harmless pranks upon one's neighbor is recognized everywhere. Some precursors
of April Fools' Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria, the Holi festival of
India, and the Medieval Feast of Fools.
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the
"Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.
Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts
and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon. Thus the passage 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.
Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "32 March", i.e. 1
April. In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.
In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a
poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible
reference to the holiday. In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a
nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on 1 April. In 1686, John
Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first
British reference. On 1 April 1698, several people were tricked into going to
the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".
In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on
25 March in most European towns. In some areas of France, New Year's was a
week-long holiday ending on 1 April. Some writers suggest that April Fools'
originated because those who celebrated on 1 January made fun of those who
celebrated on other dates. The use of 1 January as New Year's Day was common in
France by the mid-16th century, and this date was adopted officially in 1564 by
the Edict of Roussillon.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments subject to moderation. All commenters must use their own name or a screen name. No comments labelled as "Anonymous" will be published. To use your name or a screen name select "Name/URL" from the drop down menu. Insert you name in the "Name" space and leave the "URL" space blank.