Happy April Fools’ Day! The event is almost here, so let the pranks and jokes begin! May you not be on the receiving end of any bad ones. I’ve always wondered what started April Fools’ Day because, well, it seems a little odd to me. Turns out that there is no one clear, definitive story that historians agree upon as an explanation for the start of the April Fools’ tradition. There are a couple possible options.<\/p>\n

Facts about April Fools’ Day: Origins of April Fools’ Day<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

T<\/strong>he time around April 1, and also near the Vernal Equinox<\/a>, used to mark the start of the New Year. That changed to January 1 with the switch to the Gregorian calendar by France in the 1500s, and some believe<\/a> that people unaware of the change continued to celebrate on April and were deemed fools, giving rise to April Fools’ Day.<\/p>\n

Others say that the origins go back further than that. Ancient Romans celebrated the festival of Hilaria<\/a> on March 25th with games and amusements, and others believe April Fools Day start there.\u00a0 In Iran, people play jokes on the 13th day of the Persian New Year, which falls on April 1 or 2, and that tradition dates back to 536 B.C<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still another theory is that the occasion evolved from festivals of spring renewal when people hid their identities.<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, in the “olden days,” timing of the pranks was important. Pranks had to be completed in the morning, as jokes and pranks taking place later in the day were frowned upon. That doesn’t seem to be the case now, as the whole day of April 1 is considered fair game for joking.<\/p>\n

Notable pranks:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Taco Bell announced on April 1, 1996, that it was purchasing the Liberty Bell to help with the national debt and would rename it the Taco Liberty Bell.<\/p>\n

* Google loves the holiday, and in 2013 it unveiled Google Nose, a prank it called “the next scent<\/em>sasion in search” because one could search aromas and sniff them, through his\/her computer. Last year they offered a new gmail setting permitting users to make a selfie mailbox theme<\/a> and share it with friends and family \u201cso they can enjoy looking at you as much as you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

* The BBC has a few other good pranks, including this elaborate video<\/a> of the newly discovered flying penguin species from April 1, 2010, and in interviewing a professor claiming to have developed smell-o-vision in 1965. (What is it with the scent-related pranks?)<\/p>\n

* In France, April 1 in France is known as “Poisson d’Avril,” which translates to “April fish” because kids tape paper fish to their friends’ backs.<\/p>\n

* In 2014, Southwest Airlines announced that it was offering flights to Mars.<\/p>\n

* If you want to play a joke on your kids, My Crazy Good Life offers five easy pranks for school-aged kids<\/a> and Buzzfeed has this list<\/a> of 31 April Fools’ pranks for parents to pull on their children.<\/p>\n

You may also like: <\/strong>April Fools\u2019 Day tricks and pranks to play on your kids<\/a><\/p>\n

Prior post: <\/strong>Disney Social Media Moms Celebration: Dreams Come True #DisneySMMC<\/a><\/p>\n

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