April Fool

This holiday has me completely stumped as to its origin, or why we even celebrate it at all.

I’ve found two theories as to the origin:

Theory 1

Up until 1592, most people in the world used the Julian Calendar created by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. And old Jules began each year on, you guessed it, April 1st. Then Pope Gregory XIII came along and came up with a new way to track days. Old Greg’s years began on January 1st.

So there were loads of people who had a very hard time remembering exactly which day, April 1st or January 1st, marked the new year. (Think about all we go through with daylight savings time nowadays! Snap!) Those people that just couldn’t get the “hang” of the Gregorian system, and still celebrated on April 1st, were considered fools. Duh!

Theory 2

Backtrack a few thousand years to a poet named Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote a little diddy called The Canterbury Tales. If you ever had to really dig into this piece for a Lit class, you may have found an obscure line where Chaucer refers to “March 32.” Okay, Chaucer was a joker and pranksters, and people loved his stuff, so was this the origin of April Fools Day, or just a misprint?

Wherever it started, hundreds of years later, people are still obsessed with pulling pranks on each other. If you don’t believe this, check out any social media site and watch a few video posts.

So if freezing bras at slumber parties or making prank calls is your thing, you have full reign to “go for it” today! Heck, we are all fools whether we celebrate or not, so we might as well PARTY!

And remember, today, on April Fools Day, don’t believe anything you hear and trust no one…just like any other day!

Happy April Fools!