7 Fun Facts About April Fool's Day — Seriously, No Joke!

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - April Fools' Day comes around every year on April 1, and most people know what to expect: a joke from a friend, a funny headline, or a prank from a company they follow online. But not many people stop to think about where this tradition actually comes from, or why the whole world seems to agree that one day of harmless tricks is perfectly fine. There are more fun facts about April Fools' Day than you might expect, and some of them are genuinely surprising.

Ready to learn something new? Here are 7 fun facts about April Fools' Day that most people do not know, from its surprising past to its strangest traditions around the world. Let's check them out.

April Fools' Day is much older than many people think. The earliest record of April 1 being connected to jokes and foolishness comes from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in 1392. That means this tradition has been around for more than 600 years! No one knows exactly how it began, but the love of a good prank has clearly stood the test of time.

One popular story links April Fools' Day to a village called Gotham in Nottinghamshire, England. Legend says the people of Gotham pretended to be foolish on purpose to stop King John from using their roads. The king's men left them alone, thinking they were too silly to deal with. In the end, the "fools" of Gotham were actually the clever ones all along.

In some countries including Australia, Canada, and parts of the United Kingdom, April Fools' Day has a strict rule: all pranks must be done before noon. If someone tries to play a joke after 12 PM, they become the fool themselves. No one is completely sure why this rule exists, but it has been followed since at least the 1700s. The USA, Germany, and Japan allow pranks all day.

In France, April Fools' Day is called Poisson d'Avril, which means "April Fish." The most popular prank is to quietly stick a paper fish on someone's back without them noticing. When they finally find it, everyone shouts "Poisson d'Avril!" This tradition is also common in Italy, Belgium, and Quebec, Canada. The fish is said to represent a young, easily caught fish, in other words someone easy to fool.

Scotland takes April Fools' Day very seriously, so seriously in fact that one day is simply not enough. April 1 is known as "Hunt the Gowk Day," where people are tricked into delivering pointless messages to others. Then comes April 2, called "Taily Day," which is entirely dedicated to jokes about the back side of the body. Sticking a "Kick Me" sign on someone's back is a classic move.

In 1957, the BBC's respected news programme Panorama aired a segment about Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees. The report was serious in tone and completely made up. Thousands of viewers believed it and called the BBC to ask how to grow their own spaghetti trees. Decades later, CNN called it "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled." It remains one of the most famous media pranks in history.

On April 1, 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told BBC Radio 2 listeners that a rare alignment of Jupiter and Pluto would reduce Earth's gravity at exactly 9:47 AM. He said that if people jumped at that moment, they would feel themselves floating. Dozens of people actually called in to say it worked, including one woman who claimed she and her friends floated gently around the room.