When is April Fool's Day?

April Fool’s Day is celebrated all over the world as a day of playing tricks among friends as well as spreading falsified information. All jokes and tricks exchanged on April Fool’s Day are done with a light touch and bear no repercussions. The day is observed annually on April 1st. Observation of the April Fool’s Day had its origins in Europe and later spread to other regions all over the world.

The Origin of April Fool’s Day

There is no conclusive explanation behind the exact origin of the April Fool’s Day as a special date to be observed in the calendar nor of the light-hearted cultural folly carried out by the observers. However, there exist several theories that attempt to unravel the secrets behind the origin of the April Fool’s Day. One such theory links the origin of the April Fool’s Day with a decree from Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 which called for the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar as a replacement of the ancient Julian Calendar. Due to limitations in the then existing mediums of communication, the message took long to reach all regions where the Holy Roman Catholic had dominion over, and therefore some regions continued to use the Julian Calendar which had the New Year fall on April 1st. These communities who celebrated the New Year on April 1st became an item of ridicule from other communities particularly during their “New Year Day” observed on April 1st. This ridiculing culture was passed through generations and became the inspiration for the April Fool’s Day. However, there are several pointers which discredit this theory with one being the fact that the Gregorian Calendar was formally adopted in England in 1752 but the records show that the kingdom was observing the April Fool’s Day for many years before 1752. Another theory links the origin of the April Fool’s Day with an ancient Roman festival known as the Hilaria. During this particular day, Roman citizens celebrated the resurrection of one of their deities while dressed up in disguises. The Hilaria Festival, also known as the Roman Laughing Festival was observed annually from March 25th and festivities continued until April 1st.

Best April Fool’s Day Pranks

In most of its history, the April Fool’s Day was primarily observed by individual residents of a community who pranked their friends and neighbors with falsified information or sending other participants on what is known as “fool’s errands.” However, in recent years institutions have become frequent participants in the trickery and each year such institutions place the bar on the best April Fool’s Day pranks a bar higher. Identifying the best prank is a somewhat problematic task, but there exist few examples where companies went out of their way to come up with April Fool’s Day pranks and even endangering their reputation in the process. On April 1st, 1957, respected British media outlet BBC ran a story that claimed farmers from Switzerland were picking spaghetti freshly-grown from their farms and even had footage to support the allegation. However, the title for the best April Fool’s Day prank has to go to an unknown man who on April 1st, 1974 hauled numerous tires onto the summit of Mt. Edgecumbe in Alaska and set them on fire. The resulting thick smoke caused residents surrounding the mountain to flee thinking that the volcanic mountain was about to erupt.