APRIL FOOL. Apart from its date, many of us know nothing about the origin of April Fool's Day. We tell you more about its traditions and its hoaxes.
[Updated March 29, 2024 at 11:11 a.m.] April Fool's Day is celebrated this Monday, April 1, and coincidentally, it falls at the same time as Easter Monday this year 2024. The tradition of this day of pranks, little jokes and hoaxes is not recent. The change in the calendar made under Charles IX, which made the first day of the year begin in January and no longer in March from 1564, would be the most widespread origin of April 1 as a day of jokes.
In this file, we explain in detail the origin of this joke day and we give you an anthology of the best historical jokes and hoaxes, enough to give you inspiration for the 2024 April Fool's Day. And for children, find 10 April Fools models to print, cut out and color.
In France, the New Year until the 16th century was not celebrated on January 1, but for a whole week, until April 1, to celebrate spring. People had gotten into the habit of giving each other gifts. It was King Charles IX who put an end to it by setting January 1st. At the time, April 1 also corresponded to the end of the Lent period, when a lot of fish was consumed. When the king changed the date, not everyone settled and some continued exchanging gifts in April. According to legend, they were then mocked by others and the April 1st jokes were born like that!
Summary - In 1564, King Charles IX decided that the year would no longer begin on April 1st but on January 1st. This change also postponed the exchanges of gifts and gifts which marked the transition to the new year. To sow doubt about the real date of the New Year, some persisted in offering gifts in April. Over time, the little April gifts turned into jokes, jokes, and then ploys to trick others.
But the origin of the fish associated with April 1st is disputed and several versions exist. The ban on fishing at the beginning of April in France could be the cause of the famous "fish hanging in the back". Indeed, during the fish's reproduction period, fishermen were "offered" a dead herring hanging on their back, which was later replaced by a paper fish. The most religious see in April Fool's Day a symbol of Lent, a Christian period when it is only allowed to eat fish, while others assure that the fish comes from the zodiac sign of the fish, the last of the winter, used as an illustration in cards sent on April 1 to symbolize the holiday at the beginning of the 20th century...
What about other countries? The tradition of the April 1st joke, initially Western, gradually spread. It is expressed in different ways depending on the country. In English, April Fool's Day is "April's fool day". Pranks are only done in the morning in England and if you are pranked, you are "a noodle". In Scotland, be twice as vigilant as in France because pranksters can also be active on April 2. In Mexico, the only trick is to steal a friend's property. In exchange, the victim will receive candy and a note telling them that they have been tricked. There is even an Indian version of April Fool's Day: it takes place on March 31 and is called the "Huli" holiday.
It's difficult to make an anthology of the best April 1st jokes without a little self-promotion. Every year since its creation, Linternaute.com has participated in the April 1st tradition with a home page entirely filled with April Fools. Rest assured: it will be easy to understand the joke in this totally offbeat fake news in a second. And it's difficult to go very far in the deception: there is no article behind these titles in the second, or even third degree. As soon as you click on a topic, April Fool's Day will be revealed. See you on our homepage on April 1st!
The big brands did not miss the opportunity to stand out on April 1, like Burger King, which took the opportunity to tackle its competitor McDonald's. After posting a message on March 31 on .Imagine someone actually does that LOL." A half-hearted attack on McDonald's, which had been offering vegetable fries since the beginning of March for a limited time. On the Brittany side, as reported by Actu Morbihan, the town hall of Vannes had posted a fake photo, making it appear that a man on a BMX had made an incredible jump from the right bank to the left bank of the port of Vannes.
Municipalities were particularly inspired on April 1 of last year. Thus, the municipality of Allauch (Bouches-du-Rhône) had announced on Facebook an exceptional “show case” of the global star Beyoncé at the city’s Nature theater, on June 10, 2023, accompanying its announcement with a photo montage . Other jokes may have been mistaken by some due to the fact that they convey clichés. Lille Actu thus reported the (false) opening of a restaurant in Lille (North) which only serves dishes based on coffee and maroilles, with for example a maroilles fondue in a coffee broth. In the show "Les Grandes Gueules du sport" on RMC, Jean-Pierre Foucault tried to pass himself off as a listener from Marseille who couldn't stand people imitating his accent, but his April Fool's joke didn't work. long fire.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the most famous April 1 hoaxes, in France and around the world:
Are your toddlers looking for April Fools to draw or color? Have you yourself remained a big fan of fish hanging behind your colleagues' backs? Hugo L'Escargot offers you a selection of original fish to print, cut out and color to properly celebrate this farce day that remains April 1st.
A few years ago, we collected testimonies from our readers about April 1st. Whether they found themselves in the role of the trappers or the trapped, they told us about their fun experiences of that day. Like Jancap, who imagined the concept of the "fish" collective photocopier: "Draw a pretty fish with a thick felt-tip pen on an A4 sheet, right in the center, 4 to 5 cm from the edges. Take a ream of white paper and put it in the photocopier tank. Photocopy the drawn fish on a minimum of fifty pages. Remove the ream of blank paper and insert a few sheets of the photocopied fish into around fifteen places. Be careful, put the fish in the correct direction so that it comes out of the photocopied side. Insert it into the paper container..."If you opt instead for an SMS (read: how to send an anonymous SMS), try to find a funny idea but which is not similar not too spammy. Your interlocutor should not be overly worried. Why not send him a text message like: “You have been selected to participate in Koh Lanta with your friend Michel”. If you are the Michel in question, there is no doubt that your friend will contact you within a minute to find out why you signed him up for this reality TV game! It's up to you to continue to take it for a ride or not...
