April 2, 2009
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April Fools Day
So where did it come from? Every year on April 1 the unwitting, the gullible and the plain stupid are caught out by tall stories or practical jokes. But why do people play these jokes at all?
And what is so special about April 1 that otherwise normal people do their best to make their nearest and dearest look stupid?
The origins of April Fool’s Day are not very clear. But it seems safe to say that this eccentric festival is connected to the coming of spring.
Ancient Romans and Celts celebrated a festival of practical joking and mischief making at about the time of the Vernal Equinox, as do millions of India’s Hindus.
Even the French have taken this festival to their hearts calling it not April Fool’s Day but rather poisson d’avril, or April fish.
One 19th century English commentator reasoned that its origins probably lay somewhere in human nature itself rather than being the invention of one tribe or civilization.
“To find the practice so widely prevalent over the earth, and with so near a coincidence of day, seems to indicate that it has had a very early origin amongst mankind,” he said.
The first April Fool
There are two contestants for the first April Fool, the Greek goddess Demeter and the dove which, according to the Bible, Noah released from the Ark during the flood.
Both Demeter and the dove qualify for the title after being sent on fool’s errands, an apparently popular early form of humour.
The goddess failed in her quest to rescue her daughter Persephone who had been whisked away to the underworld.
While hunting for her, Demeter mistook the echoes of her own voice as being her daughters cries for help and ended up both lost and daughterless.
Noah expected the dove to perform the seemingly hopeless task of finding signs of dry land while the whole earth was covered in water.
Stolen from the BBC – a story written 11 years ago and still timely.
