April Fools Day origins

April 1 is celebrated as April Fools Day worldwide, but many may wonder how it came to be or what happened to create a day filled with pranks and jokes. 

While many legends surface on the origin of the fool’s day, the Farmers’ Almanac states, “No one knows for certain what the origin of the day is. However, it’s been celebrated in many cultures for hundreds or even thousands of years.”

While there may not be a concrete explanation describing the origins of April Fools Day, multiple theories give clues on how or when it started. 

According to legend, some suggest it started in France in 1564. Before 1564, April 1 was celebrated as New Year’s Day. Those who insisted on celebrating the “old” New Year’s became known as April fools, and it became common to play jokes on one another, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. 

Other evidence indicated that April Fools’ Day existed, in some form or other, long before 1564 in France when English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is noted to reference April Fools’ Day in his Canterbury Tales, when the characters of a rooster and a fox each trick one another, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. This reference would have been in the late 1300s. Chaucer notes that the date of the events described is March 32, also known as April 1. 

Traveling further in time is another theory of the origin of April Fools’ Day that dates back to the Roman Empire with the reign of Emperor Constantine. This theory suggests a group of fools or jesters convinced Constantine to make one of them “king for a day.” Constantine agreed, and one of the jesters, named “Kugel,” was appointed, and the day was filled with jolly jokes and came to be called April Fools’ Day, according to the Library of Congress. 

While the Library of Congress suggests the story of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Constantine, could have been the original origin of April Fools Day.

Well, April Fools.

“The story was actually a hoax,” the Library of Congress said. 

The story itself was an April Fools’ Day prank, pulled by Boston University professor Joseph Boskin on Associated Press reporter Fred Bayles in 1983. Bayles reported the story, and the AP ran it, only to retract it some days later. 

It’s safe to say the traditions of April Fools Day have stood the test of time through generations and generations of tricks and pranks that make the first day of April celebrated with a rich history.