A French error

Like most ancient traditions, the origin of April Fools’ Day is shrouded in mystery. While many theories float around, some trace the observance of April 1 to 1582—the year when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Most of the rural French population, who were unaware about the switch, continued to celebrate the start of the New Year during the last week of March, and thus were labelled as fools. Pranksters would target these unsuspecting individuals and stick a paper fish on their back and were termed as Poissons d’Avril. The tradition stuck, was later adopted across Britain, and continues till today.

Renewal festivals

Alex Boese, the curator of the online Museum of Hoaxes that was established in 1997, links April Fools’ Day to renewal festivals—a celebration in different cultures to observe the start of spring. Often these celebrations revolved around mischief, misrules and deception but observed a strict timeframe. Therefore, the tradition of playing pranks on April 1 expires at noon, post which, the prankster is termed as a fool.

British origins

Another folklore traces the birth of the tradition to 13th century Britain. Legend has it that any road that the King placed his foot on, turned into public property. When the inhabitants of Gotham, a town in Nottinghamshire, England, heard about the then King’s travel plans to their town, they expressed their disagreement with the monarch to claim the land. When the soldiers tried to force their way into the town, the residents pretended to be lunatics and thus avoided the King’s entry.

April Fools’ Day today, according to popular belief, commemorates this day.

Silly shenanigans

The world has been a victim to numerous pranks and hoaxes that are now etched into the history of this popular tradition.

Topping the list is BBC’s Swiss spaghetti harvest where the broadcasting company ran a segment where they announced that after a mild winter followed by spring, Swiss farmers were treated to a bumper spaghetti crop. Many viewers fell for the prank and called BBC to know more about how they could plant their own spaghetti tree. The broadcast, till today, remains the most popular April Fools’ Day hoax.

The British media didn’t stop there. In 1977, The Guardian published a series of articles on the newly-found San Serrifee nation in the Indian Ocean that consisted of semi-colon-shaped islands.

Its two main islands were Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Readers across the nation called The Guardian office to enquire more about this island paradise. Little did they realise that everything on the island was named after printer’s terminology.

In 1996, American fast food chain Taco Bell, ran a full-page advertisement in seven leading newspapers in the United States claiming that they had bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it to The Liberty Taco Bell. Outraged citizens called the Taco Bell headquarters and the National Park Service to express their dismay over the decision. Around noon, Taco Bell revealed that it was a prank, which is considered to be one of the most successful advertising campaigns.

Over the years, New Zealand has played their part well in playing pranks, with the most popular being the Great Wasp Swarm hoax. In 1949, Phil Stone, who worked as a DJ for radio station 1ZB, informed his listeners about a mile-wide wasp swarm that was spreading in the country and was headed towards Auckland. He advised them to wear socks over trousers and leaving honey-smeared traps outside their house doors. Aucklanders heeded to his advice till he later revealed that it a hoax. While many people were amused, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service did not take the prank very well saying that it undermined the rules of broadcasting by reporting false news.

The one prank that probably still continues to live till date is the annual press release created each year for the non-existent New York City April Fool’s Day parade. 2016 marks the 31st year of the parade.