Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

April Fool’s Day, Yes It’s April. This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Scattered Thoughts

April Fool’s Day, Yes It’s April.

So I went looking for the history of April Fool’s Day and found that people couldn’t agree on where it came from.  It’s practiced not only in America and Canada but also in Western Europe, a practice dating back to romans and All Fools’ Day.  Others  argue for its beginning having started with the “appearance” of the New Year which fell on April 1st for the Romans and Hindus.  It also comes close to the Spring Equinox, March 21 which during Medieval Times also started the beginning the the new year with the feast of the Annunciation.

A newspaper’s April Fool Joke and History:

Constantine and Kugel

Another explanation of the origins of April Fools’ Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

“In a way,” explained Prof. Boskin, “it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor.”

This explanation was brought to the public’s attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they’d been victims of an April Fools’ joke themselves.

Yes, they’d been pranked.

More searches brought up more explanations, never the same, mind you.  Even better for a day all about jokes and prianks.

Here’s some more:

The Origin of “Fool’s Errands”

According to Roman myth, the god Pluto abducted Proserpina to the underworld. Her mother Ceres only heard her daughter’s voice echo and searched for her in vain. The fruitless search is believed by some to have inspired the tradition of “fool’s errands”, practical jokes where people are asked to complete an impossible or imaginary task.

All Fool’s Day in British Folklore

British folklore links April Fool’s Day to the town of Gotham in Nottinghamshire. According to the legend, it was traditional in the 13th century for any road that the king placed his foot upon to become public property. So when Gotham’s citizens heard that King John planned to travel through their town, they refused him entry, not wishing to lose their main road. When the king heard this, he sent soldiers to the town. But when the soldiers arrived in Gotham, they found the town full of fools engaged in foolish activities such as drowning fish. As a result, the king declared the town too foolish to warrant punishment.

April Fool’s Pranks

April 1 is a day for practical jokes in many countries around the world. The simplest jokes may involve children who tell each other that their shoelaces are undone and then cry out “April Fool!” when the victims glance at their feet. Some April Fool’s jokes publicized in the media include:

 

And Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words’ April Fool’s Day Joke?  Well, it’s still March, the 31st to be exact.  April starts tomorrow!  We just didn’t want to miss out on the fun!

Happy April Fool’s a day early!

This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, March 31:

Monday, April 1 ~ April Fool’s Day:

Tuesday, April 2:

Wednesday, April 3:

Thursday, April 4:

Friday, April 5

Saturday, April 6: