April Fools' Day
The day full of joy, happiness, laughter, the embarrassment of been fooled, and of course, hoaxes has finally come. We all know what do we do on this day, But, do we know why do we celebrate April Fools day? The answer to this question is in the next paragraph.
Origin of April Fools' Day
According to historians April Fools' Day originated in Europe in the year 1852. France followed the Julian calendar before 1852, like every European country used to do. According to the Julian calendar, New year began in April. New year was celebrated as a festival. In 1852, Pope Gregory VIII established the Gregorian calendar (present Valid calendar), based on which the new year was started from January. The rest of the people weren't aware of this calendar and celebrated new year in April like the old times. Due to this the people celebrating new year based on the new calendar considered people fool who celebrate the new year in April. Since then the trend of April Fool or Fool's Day has increased.
Folktales about the origin of April Fools' Day
1. A long time ago there was a funny king named "Moxer" in Greece. One day he dreamed that an ant had swallowed him alive. When his sleep broke in the morning, he started laughing loudly remembering his dream. When his wife asked him the reason for laughing, he said that "At night I saw in my dream that an ant has swallowed me alive." Hearing this, the queen also started laughing. Then astrologer told the king that this dream means "you should live with the day laughing and joking" and it is the first day of April. So from that day on 1st April, every year was celebrated as a day full of laughter.
2. According to another folk tale, an angel befriended the farmer and said, "If you drink a pot of water in one breath, I will give you a boon". The toiling farmer immediately picked up a pot full of water and drank it in one breath and asked angel for a boon, she said: "You are very innocent, from today I give you a boon that you will make people laugh with your clever words." Then from that time farmer started making people laugh and due to this, a festival of laughter was born which we call as Fool's Day.
3. Once upon a time, there was a King in Spain named "Mounto Ber". One day he announced a contest in which he told people that who will write the truest lies would be rewarded. On the day of the contest, thousands of letters of "true lies" came to the king, but the king was not satisfied with letters. In the end, a girl came and said, "Your majesty, I am dumb and blind." Hearing this, the king was confused and asked: "What proof do you have that you are really blind". Then the girl said, "You can see the tree which has been planted in front of the palace, but I can’t." The king laughed a lot on this. He gave the girl the prize of the false joke and announced among the people that now we will celebrate Fool's Day on 1st April every year. Since then this tradition was started.
4. Four friends lived in the city of Athens in BC. One of them considered himself very intelligent and he enjoys while degrading others. Therefore, the other three friends got together and thought of a trick and told him that last night a unique dream appeared. In the dream, we saw a goddess standing in front of us, saying that a divine light will appear on the top of the hill tomorrow night and will give the desired blessing, so you must come there with all your friends.The friend, who considers himself intelligent, believed his other friends' dream. At a certain time, he reached the top of the mountain, along with some other people to see the divine light and other friends hide themselves to see his intelligent friend foolishness. Slowly-slowly the crowd started to grow and the moon and stars also started shining in the sky, but there was no sight of the divine light nor did they show any names. The day was 1 April, and from that day onwards, the practice of fooling started every year in Athens. Later gradually other countries also adopted it and started fooling their acquaintances on 1 April. This is how Fool's Day was originated.
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