April
Fool's Day or How the World Lost Ten Days
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By David Booker
"The
first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days a
year." - Mark Twain Though
probably more of a fun day than a true holiday, April Fool's Day has something
in common with several other holidays or fun days. Like Valentine's Day,
Christmas, and Easter, April Fool's has ties to Christianity. And like
Halloween, it was once the first day of a new year. In
1582, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar into Europe and the Christian
world. The old Julian calendar had fallen out of "alignment" with the
earth, pushing such dates as the first day of spring ten days out from where it
should be. To rectify this, the Pope instituted what became known as the
Gregorian calendar. Ten days were removed in October 1582. Those who went to bed
on the evening of October 4, 1582, woke up on October 15, 1582. Think of the
problem this caused bankers of the time, calculating interests on loans for a
month that only had twenty-one days. There were even reports of riots in
Frankfurt, Germany (though the country wasn't called Germany then). Under the
new calendar holy days (holidays as we call many of the holy days now),
anniversaries, and even birthdays were all bumped up 10 days. (This even
affected the birthday of our first president, George Washington. Since England
was one of the last countries to adopt the Gregorian calendar, George thought he
was born on February 12, instead of February 22 as we celebrate it today.) One
of the first countries to accept the Gregorian calendar was France. In France,
New Year's was celebrated with a festival that ran from March 25th to April 1st,
a week of gift giving that ended with parties on April 1st. Under the new
calendar, the first day of the year was changed to January 1st. Still, there
were some French men and women who had not heard or did not believe the change
in the date. They continued to celebrate "the old way." To those who
had made the change to the Gregorian calendar, this presented a problem: what to
do with the recalcitrants, the anachronists, if you will? One answer was to play
tricks on these "unbelievers," to send them on "fools'
errands" or convince them that something false was true. After all, they
already refused to accept the new truth, decreed by the pope no less. Once the
pranks were played and then the tricks revealed, the pranksters would call out
"Poisson d'Avril!" (literally, April Fish!). Even today, a French
child might tape a paper fish to a friend's back on April 1st to celebrate
"Poisson d'Avril!" In America, a college student might set the clock
in his dormitory room up an hour and then convince his roommate that he had
overslept. In general, the pranks are harmless and good-natured fun, or at least
they should be. From
France, April Fool's Day eventually spread to England, Scotland, Ireland, and
America. As for the English, they didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until
1752, twenty years after George Washington was born. Since America was still
part of England then, George lost 10 days. In Scotland, the day is called
"April gowk" (April cuckoo). And in case you're wondering, this
article is not an April Fool's joke, but you don't have to believe me if you
don't want to. |