History of April Fools Day
Don’t believe everything you read online, especially today. April 1 is commonly known as "April Fools Day" and there is no shortage of pranks to be found, especially on the intertubes.
Thinking about today got me thinking, how did April Fools Day come about? What is the history of this strange "holiday"? I decided to scour the internet to find out.
My first stop took me to an obvious place when searching for information – Wikipedia. I came across this entry that gives a vague and convoluted history of this day, much of which is pure speculation:
In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool was someone who did this prematurely. Another origin is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors.
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The Legitimate Pirate, Aug 28, 2010 re: J.K. Rowling still fighting ebook piracy, and ebooks are still being demonized