April Fool’s Day

I saw this Tweet from the OED earlier and it got me thinking.

Our earliest recorded example of ‘April fool’ (the victim of a trick or hoax on the first of April) is from 1693. #AprilFoolsDay — The OED (@OED)

I had thought that April Fool’s Day came from the change from the Julian to Gregorian calenders. Several days were ‘lost’ and people who demanded ‘their eleven days back’ were called April Fools. Another explanation is that country people didn’t know when the ‘legal’ New Year changed from Easter Day to 1st January and continued to celebrate New Year in April. It doesn’t seem as though these are the real reasons at all though, as there are references to April Fool’s Day before the adoption of the Gregorian calender.

I’ve been trying to find out the actual origins, but negotiating the hoaxes has not been easy. It seems to be a long standing custom in many parts of Western Europe. There was a Roman festival called  Hilaria apparently (I’m not sure this isn’t a joke) on which there was supposed to be jesting and good cheer.

It’s probably best to just leave it a mystery and enjoy the pranking. Before midday obviously.