The History of April Fool's Day
In the 1700's the English pranksters popularized the day in April as Fools' Day. This day has been celebrated for centuries and even goes back as far as 1582 when France switched from the Julian calender to the Gregorian calendar. When people were slow to get the news or failed to recognize the new year had moved to January 1, and those who continued to celebrate it in the last week of March to April 1 became the jokes. Which, included having paper fish put on their backs and being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish) to symbolize someone who is gullible.
April Fools' Day was also celebrated in Rome with the ancient festival known as "Hilaria" it was observed at the end of March and people would dress up in disguises. This represent the unpredictable weather.
In the 1800's Scotland would celebrate it for two-days and send people out to hunt for "hunting the qowk" fake errand. Gowk is a word for cuckoo bird a "symbol for fool." The following day was "Tallie Day" pranks that were played on people's derrieres with signs that said "kick me."
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