April Fool’s Day: legend, jokes and why it’s called that

The April 1st is the day of jokes par excellence: the one known precisely for the April Fool, a tradition that exists in various countries around the world. Including Italy.

Jokes of all kinds ranging from the simplest (who has never had a fish stuck on their back at least once in their life when they went to school?) To the most complex ones.

But from where the April Fool is born? There are several legends about its origin, among the most interesting that relating to fishing in the past, when fishermen in the first days of April had difficulty finding fish and returned with nothing in port, being teased by fellow villagers.

Or even the theory according to which the April fish tradition was born when the Gregorian calendar of 1582 married the New Year (first celebrated between 25 March and 1 April) on 1 January. Thus – there are different theories – those who continued to celebrate in the old date were considered fools in April, while others exchanged empty gift packages on the occasion of April 1st.

Over the years they have been many famous jokes made on the occasion of the first of April.

One of the most famous dates back to 1972, when it was announced to the world that the Loch Ness monster was dead. Or in 2015 when Google had shown everything backwards. And again the new three flavors of Coca Cola in 2018: avocado, natural yeast and charcoal. Another famous joke from the past dates back to 1987 when a BBC channel reported that spaghetti grow on trees with a specially created documentary.

In 2006, however, Wikipedia had announced the closure following a complaint by an anonymous, two years after the joke of the flying penguins of a BBC service.

Televisions, newspapers and brands organize funny jokes every year, which remain impressed on users. Even the VIPs have organized jokes for the first of April like that of Naike Rivelli when he announced that he would leave Instagram. A few days ahead of April 1, 2021, Volkswagen announced that the company will change its name, and then explain (after the news was reported by many newspapers around the world) that it was an April Fool.

Even on the choice of the name the theories are the most disparate. Among the most popular ones, the figure of the fish that takes the hook, just as the “victim” of the joke falls for it. But also astrology, in fact this is the period of the zodiac sign of Pisces.

The theories are many, for this day dedicated to fun and jokes that is celebrated in many countries around the world, each with its own specific traditions.

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