Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994 TAG: 9404020018
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HARRY WESSEL ORLANDO (Fla.) SENTINEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the interest of accuracy - often in low supply on this particular day - folklorists say it's just a theory that it all kicked off in 1564. That's when France's King Charles moved the celebration of the new year in his country from spring to winter.
Before that, gifts had been exchanged on April 1, which came at the end of the eight-day new year's celebration. Prankish Frenchmen continued to give gag gifts on April 1, and widened the joke by often playing tricks on the gullible.
As credible as that April Fools' history sounds, the day may have had its roots hundreds, even thousands of years earlier. Spring, with its promise of birth, renewal and life - not to mention warmth and sunshine after a long, cold winter - has always been a time of joy, merriment and, yes, foolishness.
Folklorist Jane Hatch, author of ``The American Book of Days,'' wrote that the custom of fooling people on or about April 1 is both ancient and cross-cultural.
In India, for example, Hindus for more than a thousand years have celebrated spring with a five-day spirited festival called Huli. On Huli's last day, March 31, unsuspecting persons are sent on fools' errands, such as bringing home a quantity of pigeon's milk.
Other antecedents for April Fools' Day include two ancient Roman festivals - Hilaria and Cerealia - celebrated in late March and early April, respectively, and featuring tricks and fools' errands. Even before there was a Roman Empire, Celtics held spring celebrations that some folklorists believe bore resemblance to April Fools'.
Whenever and wherever it started, there's little debate that All Fools' Day, as it is also known, established itself as an annual tradition in much of the world in the 18th century. Without official sanction it has survived. ``It's known as `Cuckoo Day' in Scotland, `Boob Day' in Spain, `Fish Day' in France and `Doll Day' in Japan,'' wrote folklorists George and Virginia Schaun.
April Fools' Day isn't what it used to be, at least as some observers of popular culture see it. Dennis Hall, who teaches English and popular culture at the University of Louisville, said April Fools' jokes need rigid societal structures to thrive. In today's looser times, there's less need for a day in which there is sanctioned foolishness.
And in a nation where people are either too intimate to want to trick each other or too distant to care, April Fools' jokes don't mean very much, Hall said. Besides, such tricks depend on trust. ``In an era where you don't trust people, it's hard for that kind of joke to work.''
Simon Bronner, professor of folklore and American Studies at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, said sensitivity training and discouragement of cruel pranks has put something of a damper on April Fools' Day, but it will survive nonetheless.
``There seems to be some kind of need, developmentally or socially, for some kind of joking relationship'' among children. ``April Fools' seems to permit that.''
As far as the Central Florida Zoological Society is concerned, April Fools' is very much alive among adults as well. Last year it received more than 1,000 calls stemming from April Fools' jokes and is bringing in extra volunteers today to handle the expected flood, reported spokeswoman Andrea Farmer.
The zoo joke works this way, Farmer reported somewhat reluctantly: A prankster will leave a name like Mrs. Peacock, Don Key, L.E. Phant or Mr. Lyon on a victim's answering machine, along with the zoo's phone number. ``Some take it in good fun when they call us, but some take it seriously and really insist on talking to Mr. Lyon or Mr. Phant.''
by CNB