April 1st - April Fools' Day

O April 1st is considered in several western countries as the April Fools' Day, a date when many take the opportunity to “play a prank” on friends or even strangers. But how did this date originate? And why does it occur precisely on April 1st?

Changing the calendar and the origins of April Fools' Day, or "All Fools' Day"

At origins of April Fool's Day they are not fully accurate, but it is true that they date back to France in the second half of the 16th century. In 1564, the French king Carlos IX made official in the domains of his reign the new calendar, defined during the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563). This new calendar was known as calendarGregorian for having been proposed by the Pope Gregory XIII. The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar (proposed by JuliusCaesar in the 1st century a. C.), causing fundamental changes, such as changing commemorative dates.

O New Year, for example, was celebrated in the Julian calendar, always in 25th March, when spring began in the Northern Hemisphere. The celebrations lasted about a week,

ending on April 1st. The Gregorian calendar changed the commemoration of this date to January 1st – still in effect today. Charles IX, being the first to adopt the calendar, brought about a change in the habits of his subjects. A large part of the French, after 1564, still celebrated the New Year in the passage from March to April. Those who knew that the old calendar had been revoked began to mock the unsuspecting, calling them fools and accusing them of falsely celebrating the passing of the year.

The last day of the old commemoration, the 1st of April, was then marked as the “Day of Fools”, that is, the “lying celebration of New Year's Eve”. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII published the bull Inter serious, which officially instituted the new calendar in all Catholic countries. This fact contributed to April Fool's Day spreading to other regions besides France, becoming popular throughout the Western world.

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Examples of lies told on April 1st

As we said at the beginning of the text, April Fools' Day is often used to “play a prank”. Many cases of lies told on April 1st became famous. In Brazil, one of the most notorious cases occurred in April 1, 1848. The Pernambuco periodical suggestively called “The lie” reported the death of the then Emperor of Brazil Dom Pedro II. As we know, Dom Pedro II only died in 1891, in France. The newspaper had to deny the fact two days after publication.

Another example that we can give, more recent and with an international scope, comes from the company Google. The search engine Google is known for being one of the most innovative in the internet world, but also one of the most relaxed. In day April 1st, 2000, Google has made available to the public a version of its search page called MentalPlex. MentalPlex would be able to read people's minds, that is, it was not necessary for the person to type what they wanted to know in the search bar. All you had to do was stare at a colored crystal ball with hypnotic graphic movements, available on the page, for the system itself to know what you were wanting to know. Needless to say, many of Google's users tried to get their thoughts guessed by the MentalPlex.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes

Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:

FERNANDES, Claudio. "April 1st – April Fools' Day"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/dia-da-mentira.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.