Column: April Fooling Around

April Fool’s Day, celebrated April 1 each year, has been observed for several centuries by several different countries and cultures, although its exact origins remain a mystery. On this day, you’re supposed to pull a prank, play a hoax or inflict a practical joke on someone. Then, you yell, “April Fool’s!” at the victim to signify you’re an idiot.

Historians think April Fool’s Day may date back to 1582, when France changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. In the older Julian calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox on or around April first. People who didn’t get the news and celebrated New Year’s on the first of April instead of the first of January were made fun of and became the butt of various April Fool’s jokes.

One of the favorite early April Fool’s jokes was to place a paper fish on the back of someone who was deemed to be jokeworthy, calling them a “poisson d’avril” (April fish). This meant you were young, gullible and easily caught. Oh, those wacky Frenchmen!

April Fool’s Day has also been linked to Roman festivals like Hilaria, which instantly reminds me of Festivus on the TV show “Seinfeld.” Hilaria was observed at the end of March by the followers of the cult of Cybele. People dressed up in disguises and mocked fellow citizens, prominent magistrates, etc. Sort of Mardi-Gras-meets-spring-break.

Some also speculate April Fool’s Day was connected to the vernal equinox, the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (and also my mother Joan’s birthday, March 20). Mother Nature “fooling” people with her changing weather was the rationale behind this April fooling view.

The concept of April fooling spread through Britain in the 18th Century, and it became a two-day tradition. This began with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands. (“Gowk” refers to a cuckoo bird, a symbol of foolishness.) This was followed by the amusingly-named Tailie Day, where pranks were played on people’s tails, like pinning a “kick me” sign on someone’s back end.

One of my favorite “hunting the gowk” stories involves my sister-in-law’s grandmother, who was an elderly Atlanta matron at the time. Some nieces and nephews got together and conspired to play an April Fool’s prank on her. They called her, disguising their voices, and claimed to represent the local water utility company. They warned her that her water would be shut off soon for an undetermined amount of time, so she should store water in every receptacle possible.

Well, that poor old woman filled everything in her home! Pitchers, glasses, buckets and bathtubs were all overflowing when her relatives came by to tell her it was all a fake! I can imagine her looking over her kitchen knives as they explained the joke.

My mother had a good running April Fool’s joke in her childhood. For years, her father Hale would tell her and sister Janice there was a goat in their yard every April 1. The kids fell for it once or twice, then quickly learned to ignore him. Then, one year, her father insisted they look at the yard, and there was actually a goat standing there! Hale had arranged with a local farmer to loan him the goat and deliver it to their house.

My best friend Tony had an April Fool’s experience, also. Seeing a “cattle crossing” warning sign on a major road, which had been put up just before April 1, he presumed it was a joke. It wasn’t. He hit a cow, disabling his car. When he called his then-girlfriend, now-wife Paula to pick him up, she didn’t believe him. Because it was April 1. They finally worked it out, of course.

Well, my April fooling review is about over, as is my time as a published writer for “TBY.” I’ve enjoyed bringing you every article. Now, excuse me, while I remove this paper fish stuck to my backside.