April Fools' Day is celebrated in many countries on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other.
In France and Italy, children and adults traditionally tack paper fishes on each other's back as a trick and shout "April fish!" in their local languages (poisson d'avril! and pesce d'aprile! in French and Italian, respectively). Such fish feature prominently on many French late 19th to early 20th century April Fools' Day postcards.
The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). Many writers suggest that the restoration of January 1 as New Year's Day in the 16th century was responsible for the creation of the holiday, but this theory does not explain earlier references.
Read more about April Fools' Day: Origins, Other Prank Days in The World
Famous quotes containing the words april and/or day:
“lady through whose profound and fragile lips
the sweet small clumsy feet of April came
into the ragged meadow of my soul.”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
“I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope that it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)