Homebodies - The origin of the April Fool
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- Published on Saturday, April 2, 2016
By Rita Friesen
The Neepawa Banner
Got to wondering about April Fool’s Day, so I googled it. [The practice has become so common, even for people of my generation – when a grandchild called grandma to find out what a ‘stick of butter’ meant in cup portions- it was grandma that said, I’ll google it!] Back to April Fool’s Day. There are conflicting reports about the origin.
Going way, way back, one theory is that the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar, back when popes could make major decisions like re-doing time, not all rural or far away people knew that they now lived with a new New Year’s Day, continued to celebrate on April 1. Perhaps they didn’t accept the calendar, just like some people today fuss about Daylight Savings Time?
Another supposition was that the Roman Emperor Constantine was told by his jesters that they could do a better job of running the empire than he was doing. Constantine supposedly appointed a jester ‘king for the day’, but that theory was proved to be a hoax in the 1980s. Perhaps the best April Fool’s joke ever! All research indicated that people needed a day of levity after a long difficult winter. That makes sense to me.
What I do recall from my childhood is the warm summer day when the family’s hired hand came into our kitchen and called us to the window to see the great lake that had come overnight to our back yard. The flax as in full blossom and it did indeed look like a body of water. A testimonial to our upbringing is that we did not mock the man, knowing that with his limited social skills he was delighted to have caught us in a prank/joke. I do recall that one could exercise the freedom of foolishness until noon. The chant ended with something like, ‘April Fool’s is come and past, you are the greatest fool at last?’ There were ditties for everything.
School tricks were simple back in the day. Not hurtful or harmful, perhaps a little embarrassing. Not worse than my class mates sticking a ‘take care, she bites’ message on my back after reading a particular novel. I wasn’t known as ‘Red Rita’ for nothing!
Rather like what the French do. The French call April 1 Poisson d’Avril, or “April Fish.” French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying “Poisson d’Avril” when the prank is discovered.
I do know that a merry heart is like a medicine. A good laugh can build friendships and ease social situations. April 2 would have been Ed’s 89th birthday and if ever a person enjoyed a laugh, it was he. There is seldom a day I don’t recall a saying or groaner that he cherished. I leave you with this – I was his angel. Always up in the air harping about something and not an earthly thing to wear!
