'Tis yet again the favourite season for every human with a good sense of humour - April Fools' Day! This joyous occasion is also known as All Fools' Day and is sometimes abbreviated as AFD or A1. Are you a fool or a fooler? From swapping Oreo cream with toothpaste to paper fish, it is observed all around the world and has been celebrated for, quite literally, hundreds of years.

But, what are its origins? How has it come to today's beloved (or feared) festivity? And, how do fellow clowns & pranksters celebrate it throughout time and space? Much like the Valentine's Day blog post, this one will answer all of those questions, provide humour, and entertain you with some stellar chess duels from today's Candidates tournament as reviewed by GM Rafael Leitao!

The History of April Fools' Day

Let's start by going back in time nearly 5 centuries to 1563 AD in France. Welcome to the Middle Ages! Snowcone?

For centuries, continental Europe had lacked unity in the date for the new year - it often varied from region to region, even within the same country. In France, many regions celebrated New Year's Day around April 1. The Julian calendar (in use at the time) originally set the new year to begin on January 1 (in honor of the Roman god Janus), but as Christendom took hold of the land, many areas changed the start date to April 1 (among other dates).

It was at this time that King Charles IX decided to unify his nation to a singular New Year's date. He chose January 1, as was common in some regions and established in the Julian Calendar. Shortly thereafter, his edict was passed into law, and France later adopted the Gregorian calendar, which also sought to unify calendars throughout Europe and commence the new year on January 1st.

Now, how did All Fool's Day sprout out of this calendar dance? As with all change, there are those that straggle behind. Some say these were the uneducated... others point to conservatives. Regardless, those who did accept the transfer to Jan 1 found the stragglers quite amusing and began to mock the so-called fools, sometimes exchanging faux gifts on April 1.

Thus, April Fool's Day was founded.

PSYCH!

This is no joke - it truly happened. But, this common origin legend is NOT the true beginning of AFD. As a matter of fact, 2 years before the King's edict, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote a poem, Refereyn vp verzendekens dach / Twelck den eersten April te zyne plach, about a nobleman pranking his servant with foolish errands for April 1. So, it would seem that this holiday goes back even further...

How about the beginning of the century? In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval wrote Le livre de la deablerie. He wrote a line ending with the phrase, "poisson d'avril". How significant! That phrase is the French term for an April Fool and the name for April Fool's Day in France. It literally translates to 'April Fish', likely in reference to newly hatched fish in April that are quite easy to catch.

Can we date the origins of A1 to the early 16th century? Only a fool! We must go back some 100 years more to 1392. We present the writings of the legendary English writer, Chaucer. Ah, so we meet again... he seems to be quite meddled in the histories of holidays.

One of his Canterbury Tales, Nun's Priest's Tale, entertains his readers with a story about a vain rooster and a sly fox. At first, the fox tricks the rooster into defenselessness and captures him in his jaws. The rooster returns the favour by tricking the fox into talking, letting the cock escape.

It's interesting enough, but, where is the connection? In the exposition, the story is set "Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two." That puts the date of the interaction between cock & fox on April 1. Given the idea of them outwitting each other, it would seem to imply a tradition of fooling others on April 1.

Have we at last found our earliest trace? Fret not, I have no further references to show! At la-... wait, what? *whispers* Oh...

PSYCH!

The History of April Fools' Day
Part 2

As it turns out, this reference is somewhat controversial. Many scholars hold that the word "bigan" is actually a typo - well, a scribal error, to be precise. That actually makes sense considering the context. The previous two lines mention the completion of March. If "bigan" was NOT the actual wording, it seems likely that Chaucer was referring to 32 days after the conclusion of March - around May 1.

What a let-down. But, what did you expect? It is April Fool's Day, after all! Nevertheless, there is one more time travel we can go down to find the roots of A1...

Meet the Robinsons! Er, the Romans! Many believe that AFD evolved out of Hilaria (the Latin word for 'joyful') - a celebration at the end of March for members of the Cybele cult. These hooligans would disguise themselves and mock people, particularly officials.

If you believe that, you are a fool. If you believe I was joking, you are a bigger fool! Truth be told, that history is correct. Unfortunately for us history buffs and truth-seekers, there is absolutely no evidence correlating Hilaria and All Fools' Day.

The same is true of other common theories, such as AFD having roots in the Hindu celebration of Holi, the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, and even of it being a memorial of Noah sending the dove out of the Ark too early. Nevertheless, these celebrations do show how universal the urge is to have a set day for letting loose and having foolish fun.

But, when will we finally reach the true origins of this celebration? Patience, dearest reader. What would an AFD blog be without sending you on a wild goose chase? Worry no more - the truth is as follows:

In the early fourth century CE, Emperor Constantine of Rome was being entertained by his jesters. At this time, some of his jesters claimed that a jester could do a much better job at running the empire. The emperor evidently found this notion quite amusing, and so proclaimed one of the jesters, Kugel, king for a day. What was King Kugel's greatest act as sovereign of the empire? He declared that day, April 1, a day for fun and foolishness!

Lo and behold, the tradition caught on and became an annual celebration. It was slowly spread from Rome throughout most of the empire and had the strongest hold in central & western Europe. It has flourished and crossed political borders, oceans, and even the physical realm into the digital!

Psych! April Fool!

That story has not even an inkling of truth! It was a tale invented by Professor Joseph Boskin that was accredited by the news (including the Associated Press). But, it is nothing more than an April Fools' story... a prank he played on more than 4 BILLION people!

Alright, now the moment you have been so impatiently waiting for - the origin reveal...

All Fools Around the World

April Fools' Day is celebrated all around the world. Interestingly enough, however, there isn't a single country in the world that has ordained All Fools' Day an official holiday. The closest we get to that is Odesa, Ukraine.

Here, they call April 1 Humorina. But, it is no mere joke - it's an entire festival! Established in 1973, the city organizes a parade through the city centre, the International Clown Festival, and free music performances. In many countries, an April Fools' prank is revealed by shouting at the victim, or fool, "April Fool!" In Ukraine, you say, "First of April - worldwide lies."

There are many phrases to reveal the joke throughout the world. For example, in France, Italy, Belgium, & other areas, you shout "April Fish!" - the name of both the holiday and the fool. A common prank is sneakily attaching a paper fish to the back of unsuspecting fools. The media will oftentimes publish a false story, and sometimes with a fish motif - a clue that it's for A1.

Scotland and Ireland make an interesting play on the common joke of sending the victim on a foolish errand. On April 1, Huntigowk Day in Scotland, the fool is entrusted with an 'important' letter, sometimes asking for help. They are to quickly deliver it to the recipient, who, upon reading the letter, sends the fool to another recipient... so on and so forth.

Sometimes, the fool would be left to figure out the joke on their own. Other times, the fool might be directed back to the home of the original prankster. In Scotland, this fool is called a gowk. Thus, their letters were often brief rhymes that ended with: "Hunt the gowk another mile." The Scottish follow-up April 1 with Tailie Day (a.k.a. preen-tail day) on April 2. The goal? Attach as many paper tails (with unflattering remarks, no less) to unsuspecting gowks as possible!

Historical Pranks

Pranks have evolved a lot over the years. But, don't discount the originals! There have been some very creative jokes played throughout the history of AFD. Let's not forget de Dene's nobleman - sending a victim on fool's errands was evidently no strange prank.

• One of the oldest examples of a mass prank was on All Fools' Day in 1698. People went to the Tower of London to see lions being washed in public. What a sight! What a hoax! This prank was not only successful once, but has been repeated multiple times!
  
  

  

• Ah, the masses fell yet again, this time in Germany. A 1774 newspaper revealed the secret to breeding chicken eggs in different colours - simply paint their environment the desired colour! After all, chickens pass on environmental information through their eggs.
  
  
• In 1906, Chicago was duped by an alliance of newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, which reported (with doctored images) on the invasion of the city by tyrannosaurs, diplodocii, and other dinosaurs!
  
  
• One of the most iconic prank instances in history - and the very first televised prank - was played by the BBC, the April 1 king of the press! In 1957, their programme Panorama informed listeners about the eradication of the spaghetti weevil and an increased yield of spaghetti crop from Swiss spaghetti trees. The BBC received many inquiries on how to obtain and care for one of these plants - so flooded they were with requests, they had to reveal their joke the next day.
  
  

  

• In 1962, Swedish TV featured a brief segment educating all on how to upgrade to colour television by putting nylon stockings in front of your TV... thousands of people believed the detailed scientific explanation.
  
  
• Three years later, the BBC strikes again: introducing the advent of Smell-O-Vision from straight out of Willy Wonka's factory! This new tech purportedly allowed viewers at home to actually sense odours. Believe it or not, it actually worked... at least, according to many duped fools who called in to report success. The success of this prank was no fluke - the BBC proved it with a re-do in 2007, and Google did in 2013!
  
  
• The following breaking news will be of special interest to my readers: Scientific American's Martin Gardner wrote in 1975 about a new chess computer created at MIT. The revelation? "Pawn to Queens Rook Four" - 1. a4 is the Ware Opening. Brilliant, eh?
  
  
  
  
• In 1976, BBC Radio 2 welcomed guest Sir Patrick Moore. The astronomer educated listeners on the Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect - Jupiter & Pluto would align so that you could experience an UPWARD gravitational pull at precisely 9:47 AM if they jumped. Dozens of listeners claimed to have felt the effect, and some people even claimed to have floated through the room.
  
  
• Welcome to San Diego, California, 1993. KGB-FM reported that the Space Shuttle had been diverted to Montgomery Field (a small local airport), and 1,000+ people drove through the infamous rush hour to get a glimpse of the absent shuttle.
  
  
• In 1996, Taco Bell made the news when it bought the Liberty Bell (an American landmark) to "reduce the country's debt". Commenting on the sale of the now Taco Liberty Bell, Mike McCurry (White House press secretary) showed off his good humour in announcing the sale of the Lincoln Memorial, and it's being renamed to Lincoln-Mercury Memorial.
  
  

• In 1997, iconic hosts Pat Sajak & Alex Trebek swapped game shows for a day - Pat hosted Jeopardy! and Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune.
• In 1998, West Midlands British radio presenter Nic Tuff pulled a prank of international scale when he impersonated Prime Minister Tony Blair. Who was the fool? He called and duped none other than South African President Nelson Mandela! He wasn't happy...
  
  
• In 2008, NPR reported that the IRS would be sending consumer goods instead of rebate checks to ensure that the money would be spent. They continued in fooling spirits while naming various fake sponsors... "Support for NPR comes from the Soylent Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is People".
  
  
• Not to be outdone that year, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of penguins on their show Miracles of Evolution. These birds were flightless no more - they had regained their ability to fly! BBC footage (featuring Monty Python star Terry Jones) showed their flight from Antarctica to the Amazon.
  

  

  
  
• In 2013, Lee County, Florida, the classic water hoax struck again. This was neither the first nor the last time that the public was warned about dihydrogen monoxide poisoning. As it turns out, it was detected in high amounts in the water supply. This main ingredient of acid rain can cause pruniness of skin, suffocation, & urination... inhalation can even be lethal! If you don't get the prank, google the chemical makeup of dihydrogen monoxide. Fortunately for pranksters, seemingly every time this joke is played, no matter where, plenty of people were the kids who slept during chemistry class...
  
  
• In 2016, Nat Geo tweeted their new policy: no more would they publish photos of naked animals.
  
  
• In 2022, renowned talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel & Jimmy Fallon swapped shows for the day. They were simultaneously hosting The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon & Jimmy Kimmel Live!, respectively.
  
  

Shenanigans Online

But, not all pranks happen in our dimension... some of the most memorable jokes in the history of April Fools' Day were played in the digital realm. Take a look at this speedrun featuring Reddit, Google, & more!

♛ Learn about the most iconic internet prank of all time...

In 2006, 4chan saw the prototype for rickrolling - duckrolling. What in the 64 squares?

Many memes in the early days of the internet started their lives on the breeding grounds of 4chan. The prank of trolling people with bait-and-switch links thrived here. That year, 4chan founder Christopher Poole put a sitewide filter replacing the word 'egg' with the word 'duck'.

Unfortunately for eggroll lovers, they had to settle for sharing recipes for duckrolls. One anonymous hero shared this image, which would go on to trigger an internet sensation:

Duckrolling became a viral meme on 4chan. But, it had yet to evolve into its greatest form...

Jumping forward to March 2007, GTA 4 was about to be released and the internet was clamoring for it! The trailer's viewership was so high that they had to post the video on different sites. One innocent 19-year-old decided to share the trailer on 4chan, but it really linked to "Never Gonna Give You Up". He titled the video "Rickroll'D".

This accidental genius revealed himself as Shawn Cotter in a Reddit AMA (2011) and became the father of the rickroll. Rick Astley's song exploded in popularity as did the term 'rickroll' and they've never looked back since.

Mashups and lip-syncs were made. Online research papers rickrolled scholars. Even the U.S. government is guilty of rickrolling - US Rep Nancy Pelosi, Oregon Legislative Assembly, & the White House Twitter (not X) account.

Truth be told, it has had its lulls in popularity. But, it always bounces back. The pandemic, for example, saw a massive spike in rickrolls.

As long as trolls are still trolling, the Rick will never stop rolling.

— Shawn Cotter

• The turn of the century saw Google's prankster arc. On April 1, 2000, Google released MentalPlex - the newest Google search!
  Instructions:
     - Remove hat and glasses.
     - Peer into MentalPlex circle. DO NOT MOVE YOUR HEAD.
     - Project mental image of what you want to find.
     - Click or visualize clicking within the MentalPlex circle.
  Unfortunately, there was no one worthy, as all received an error message like one of the following...
     - Error 666: Multiple transmitters detected. Silence voices in your head and try again.
     - Error 05: Brainwaves received in analog. Please re-think in digital.
     - Error CKR8: That information is protected under the National Security Act.
     - Error 008: Interference detected. Remove aluminum foil and remote control devices.
     - Error: Insufficient conviction. Please clap hands three times, while chanting "I believe" and try again.
  
  
• Google had more to say 5 years later with the introduction of Google Gulp - the latest in brain optimizing and intelligence boosting technology... all to enhance your googling skills. The drink was powered by real-time DNA analysis, MAO inhibition, and 4 flavours. The free beverage could ONLY be obtained by returning a Gulp bottle cap to a grocery store...
  
  
• In 2007, an illusion designer posted pictures of a mysterious 20-centimeter body. He later sold the 'fairy mummy' on eBay for £280!
  
  
• While you were busy in 2007 wishing you could plummet your bullet rating while on the toilet, Google was making that possible with Google TiSP - Toilet Internet Service Provider. Choose between self-installation via flushing a weighted fiber-optic cable or pro-installation via plumbing nanobots. You could choose the free plan of 8 Mbit/s or the paid plan of 32 Mbit/s. And, don't worry about irrelevant ads - TiSP would use "discreet DNA sequencing" of "personal bodily output" to show you personalized food & health ads.

• In 2008, every featured video on the YouTube homepage was redirected to a rickroll!
  
  
• If you were an early user of Reddit, 2010 must be a mainstay in your memory. On A1, everyone woke up as an Admin. For 24 hours, Reddit gave all full powers!
  
  
• Shortly after Topeka, Kansas officially changed its name (albeit temporarily) to Google in March, Google reciprocated on AFD 2010 by replacing the Google logo with Topeka!
  
  
• In 2014, you could use Headdit on April Fools' Day - navigate the site with only head movements and your webcam!
  
  
• Also in 2014, Minecraft surprised its users by replacing everyone's skin with a villager's skin! The new look, plus villager sounds, lasted the whole day.

• The same year, Chrome announced a new feature: you could now convert web content to emojis! This far more concise and expressive rendition would provide accurate meaning based on definitions, context, tone, & more.
  
  
• In 2015, a doctored X-ray image (pun intended) displaying the heart below the diaphragm was posted on a radiology website. Over the years, medical professionals from various fields shared the picture without realizing the prank - it was even published in a peer-reviewed medical journal!
  
  
• 2018 saw Google Maps release a treasure hunt: Where's Waldo. That's right - 5 classic Waldo scenes were scattered across the globe, each one with a clue to the next... all the way to the 6th scene on the Moon!

Fools in the Field

But nothing beats the pranks of real-life individuals. Here's what some people recounted on Reddit for their favourite April Fools' pranks:

• finding_nino: This takes place over a few days but [* *] is it worth it. 

  Step 1. Buy a wig and put it on something resembling a head (ideally a mannequin head, but really any sort of round object will do.)

  Step 2. Place head with wig on in your targets bed, so that it's partially visible under the covers. Place pillows under the cover so it looks like a person.

  Step 3. When they go to sleep, they'll get mildly frightened or surprised at the fake person in their bed. You're probably thinking, what a lame prank, don't worry, the best is yet to come. Repeat step 2 a few nights in a row until they get used to it.

  Step 4. After a few nights, wear the wig yourself, and hide under their covers. They will grab the "fake head" to toss it aside as usual, at which point you let loose a blood-curdling scream.

  Step 5. Clean up their [*ahem* personal bodily output].
  
  

• DrSharkmonkey:

  My mom is a high school teacher. April first rolls around, and she decides to prank her students. In order for the prank to be successful, she includes one student in her plan. So the day before, she tells this kid (we'll call him Brad) to take one of her old phones to class with him the next day, and she tells Brad to pull out the phone and "text" in class. Brad agrees, and the next day, when Brad starts texting using the mole phone, my mom promptly halts her lecture, walks up to Brad, takes the phone right out of his hands, and chucks the [*] thing out of her second-story window.

  The look, as my mom describes it, on the faces of her students was priceless. No one laughing, no one smiling, just sheer, raw horror. Always loved that one, never done a prank quite like it.
  
  

• [deleted]: My favourite prank is still the one when I opened up MS powerpoint on a friend's computer, put a desktop screencap on the first slide, a picture of the blue screen of death on the second, full screened it and waited for him to click something

  Putting Goatse on the second slide is equally effective
  
  

• Elliot_2000:Two I've been planning:

  1. Get lots of boots from a thrift store. Place the pairs side by side, facing forward, in every bathroom stall in my office building. Lock the stalls from outside with a screwdriver.

  2. Acquire envelopes. Place one dollar bills in several. Label these $1 and attach them to places where people can reach them easily if spotted. Place five dollar bills in a couple. Label $5. Place in inconvenient yet still accessible locations. Fill the remaining envelopes with notes reading "Happy April Fools Day!" label these $10, $20 and $50. Attach these to visible, yet ridiculously difficult places to reach- denomination corresponding to the degree of difficulty.
     
     

• Andrew225: I did this one a few years back to my brother.

  I put on Craigslist that I had two tickets to the upcoming Justin Bieber concert (you can use whoever, just check local listings). I said that I had gotten them for my girlfriend and I, but we broke up and I didn't feel like going alone. Being a good natured fellow, I was offering said tickets to anyone who could call or text and tell me why they were the biggest Justin Bieber fan.

  I then listed my brothers phone number.

  For a full day, he had screaming little girls telling him all the Justin Bieber facts that they knew while I just sat back and laughed.
  
  

• KitchenMatches: I always thought it would be awesome to get a grim reaper costume and a mini whiteboard, write some generic last name on it (Wilson, Ramirez, etc), put on the Death costume and wait at the arrivals terminal at the airport, next to all the town car drivers.
  
  
• I_Have_Fetus_Hands: April Fool's Day is my Christmas. A few years ago, it happened to fall on our Spring Break. My boyfriend at the time was taking a trip to San Diego with one of our friends. He knew how much I love April Fool's Day, so he wouldn't let it go that wasn't it such a shame that he would be across the country so I wouldn't be able to prank him on my favorite day. Challenge accepted. I didn't want to ask him what hotel they were staying at as that would be suspicious, so I called every hotel in the area, asking to be connected to the room with his last name. On the 8th hotel, a match! They connected me to his room, and I disguised my voice- pretending to be "Deborah, from the front desk." I proceeded to tell them that we had to do some maintenance in that room, so we would upgrade them to a suite at no charge. All they had to do was pack up all of their things, come down to the front desk, ask for Deborah, and we would give them their new suite key. They packed everything up, and were super embarrassed when there was no Deborah at the front desk. Pranked 'em from the other side of the country.
  
  
  
• SynysterNate: I worked as an IT help desk tech with 2 others in my office. April fools rolled around and I decided the arrogant new guy deserved a little torture. Before he got to work I connected a nano wireless mouse adapter to the back of his PC. I kept the mouse in my pocket and waited patiently. Every once in a while I would give it a quick move and stop. After about 5-6 he threw his hands up and started freaking out. I knew I struck gold at that moment, so I continued to do this through the day while watching [him] google ways to fix it.

  He then convinced himself that it must be a virus, to which I completely agreed. The mouse had a forward and back button, so whenever he got on a page that showed what could resolve his issue, I would hit back. He screamed "it knows I'm trying to fix it!!". I then explained how bad it would look for the new guy to get a virus from non work related browsing. Panic set it and I probably should have stopped, but he really was an [*].

  So I had 10-15 other employees come in to our office from time to time to just ask questions and observe his torture. I finally took the mouse out and threw it on his desk laughing hysterically at 4:55pm (I started this at 8am).

  In case you felt bad - I got laid off 2 years later, he got to stay.

  TL;DR - Wireless mouse I controlled hooked up to coworkers computer.

  

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Welcome to the end of this guide to April Fools' Day. Happy AFD! Share in the comments what your favourite pranks were, whether from this blog post, ones you have performed, ones you have fallen victim to, or ones you have observed from a safe distance. I wish you all an April 1 full of good-natured pranks and a "touch of tomfoolery and topsy-turveydom".