Liputan6.com, Jakarta - April Fools is an unofficial tradition celebrated every April 1st.
On this day, people around the world are free to lie or play pranks on others without being considered guilty.
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This tradition is marked by tricks and various other pranks aimed at family, friends, and even neighbors.
The main purpose of April Fools' Day celebrations is purely for entertainment, often with a slight embarrassment to those who are easily fooled.
The pranks are usually practical jokes or harmless hoaxes.
If someone is successful, the perpetrator will usually say "April Fools!" to indicate that the prank was only a joke.
April Fools' Day celebrations have a long history and various theories regarding their origins, ranging from ancient calendar changes to spring festivals.
Calendar Changes and Ancient Traditions
One of the most popular theories regarding the origins of April Fools' Day is closely related to the calendar change that occurred in France in the 16th century.
In 1582, France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, a reform ordered by Pope Gregory XIII and called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.
In the Julian calendar, the New Year was celebrated around the end of March and April 1, coinciding with the vernal equinox.
However, after the Gregorian calendar established January 1 as the start of the new year, many people were late in accepting or rejected the change.
Those who continued to celebrate the New Year in the last week of March and April 1 became the subject of ridicule and were mocked as "April fools," hence the custom of playing pranks on that date.
In addition to the calendar change theory, some historians also link April Fools' Day to an ancient Roman festival called the Hilaria.
This festival was celebrated in late March, around the 25th, by followers of the cult of Cybele.
Some believe that April Fools' Day is related to the spring equinox on March 21st.
During this time, the weather is often changeable and unpredictable, leading people to associate it with the "tricky" nature of "fooling."
An association between April 1st and foolery is also found in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" (1392), in which a rooster named Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on the 32nd day of March 1st, which falls on April 1st.
April Fools Around the World: Unique Traditions and Iconic Jokes
The April Fools' Day tradition began to spread widely in the 18th century, especially in England and Scotland, and then spread to various other countries.
In France, people who are successfully fooled in an April Fool's Day prank are called "poisson d'avril" or "April fish," symbolizing a young, easily caught fish or someone who is easily fooled.
Children there often stick pictures of fish on the backs of unsuspecting friends.
In the United Kingdom, April Fool's Day pranks are only allowed until noon.
Anyone playing a trick after noon is considered unlucky and is called an "April fool."
One popular prank involves tricking friends by telling them their shoelaces are untied, then shouting "April fool!" when they duck.
Scotland has an April Fool's Day tradition known as "Gowkie Day," or the day of fools, and the celebration can last for two days.
The first day involves "hunting the gowk," which involves sending people on fake tasks.
The second day is called "Tailie Day," where people perform physical pranks such as sticking paper tails or "kick me" signs on people's backs.
Pop Culture History
Various examples of famous April Fool's Day pranks have become part of popular culture history.
One example is the 1957 "BBC Spaghetti Tree," in which the BBC television program "Panorama" aired a segment about harvesting spaghetti from a tree in Switzerland, successfully convincing many Britons.
Other examples include the fictional article "The Fastest Pitcher" in Sports Illustrated magazine in 1985, the BBC's announcement of "Digital Big Ben" in 1980, and Google Gmail's "Mic Drop" feature, which caused a stir in 2016.