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N0KFQ > TODAY 01.04.08 19:00l 55 Lines 2681 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 1
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
April 1, 1700
April Fools tradition popularized
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the
annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes
on each other.
Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated
for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins
remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day
dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar
to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent
in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to
recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1
and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March
through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These
included having paper fish placed on their backs and being
referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize
a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals
such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March
and involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also
speculation that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox,
or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother
Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.
April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th
century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event,
starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on
phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool)
and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on
people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs
on them.
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create
elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV
stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition
of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their
audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were
experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people
harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In
1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran
a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who
could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco
Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it
announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell
and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after
Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper," scores of
clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
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