April Fool’s Day – No Joke!

April Fool’s Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated all over the world by people taking part in hoaxes and playing tricks. So, how did April 1 come to be so foolish:

Although the origins are ambiguous, April Fool’s Day may have started as far back as the 16th century, or earlier according to some reports

April Fool’s Day was not always celebrated on April 1, but has always been celebrated in the Spring.

april fool's day celebration's in the north beach neighborhood - san francisco, california (2006)

Chaucer may have been the first to make literary mention of April Fool’s Day in his Canterbury Tales, in “The Nun's Priest's Tale,” which concerns two fools and takes place "thritty dayes and two" from the beginning of March, which is April 1.

Marketing Campaigns and the media have used April Fool’s Day to create fake products for their customers, like:

Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old," right-handed burger.

Taco Liberty Bell: In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell."

Statue

In France, April Fool’s Day is called "Poisson d'Avril" meaning April Fish. Tradition has it that French children will tape paper fish to the backs of their friends. When they discover the fish on their back, the prankster then yells "Poisson d'Avril!"

When real news breaks on April Fool’s Day, nobody believes it because they are so used to hearing hoaxes.

According to Mark Twain, “This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four."

April Fools in South Quad