April fools day used to be known as All Fool's day, but where did it come from and why is it celebrated?

There are many theories, the preponderant one claiming that the day has its origins in the late sixteenth century, when the Gregorian calendar was reformed.

The start of the New Year used to be April 1st, but this was shifted back to January 1st.

The reforms were slow to catch on however, and some people still continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1st.

The more educated people would laugh at these idiots, and seeing their ignorance, would send them on a 'fool's errand'.

In France, people would try and tape a fish to their companions back, and if succesful, cry out 'Avril Poisson!' or April's Fish!

However, the tradition of an annual day of 'foolery', has more ancient origins.

The Romans had the feast of Saturnalia, towards the end of December, where people would exchange gifts and play tricks on one another. The Lord of Misrule, Saturnalicius, was said to rule on this day, and even slaves were allowed to pretend that they ruled their masters.

Celtic peoples celebrated a day when Lud, the God of humour, allowed ordianry Celts to play tricks on their revered druids.

In the middle ages, there was a 'feast of fools' or Festus Fatuorum, where the people poked fun at a non too amused Church.

'In British a folklore, a link had been made to April Fools Day to the town of Gotham a legendary town of fools located in Nottinghamshire. The legend reveals that in the thirteenth-century, any road on which the King travelled became public property. The Gotham citizens did not wanted to loose their main road to the King, spread a false story to stop King John from travelling through heir town. King John learning about the deception send a messenger to Gotham and demanded an explanation. When the messenger arrived in Gotham he noticed that the town was full of lunatics who were engaged in foolish activities, such as drowning fish, attempting to cage a birds in roofless fences, etc. (though, of course, their foolery was all an act). The King fell for the ruse and declared the town too foolish to warrant punishment. And ever since then, April Fool's Day has commemorated their trickery.' (Merry Tales of the Madmen of Gotham)

Other people claim that April fools day has its origins in the Vernal Equinox, the day that the Sun crosses directly over the Earth's equator. This was believed to be a 'crossing over' or a temporary upturn in normal rules and behaviour, and was celebrated by playing tricks on people in authority.

Whatever the origins, lost in the mists of time, people still celebrate this day, and these are some recent examples that have caught the imagination:

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Burger King in the 1990s, took out whole page adverts in the New York newspapers, claiming that they had introduced the world's first left handed burger. They claimed that they had rotated the meat patty and the salad 180 degrees, making eating of the burger easier for left handed people.

It worked, 'sinister' people queued up demanding left handed burgers, which began to enrage right handed people who then started to demand their own right handed burgers.

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In the sixities, a very well respected and fusty British news programme, Panorama, ran a doumentary on the Swiss Spaghetti harvest. Pictures of trees from which strands of sphagetti hung, flapping in the Alpine air, caused people to gaze in wonder. The documentary pointed out that the elimination of the Spaghetti weevil and an unusually clement winter had led to a bumper crop of tree Sphagetti.

Viewers who called in and asked whether they could grow their own sphagetti, were instructed to drape dried Spaghetti over their window sills and keep them watered until they took root. The best Spaghetti tree plant food, they were advised, was tomato sauce.

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Again in Britain, about five years ago, some students painted a zebra crossing on the M3 motorway. There was huge chaos the next morning, as cars slowed down, some even stopping at the strange pedestrian crossing, and for a while the motorway had to be closed while the offending black and white stripes were removed.

Police and motorists were none too amused at this potentially lethal trick that Loki himself would have been proud of.

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Other tricks included a claim in a newspaper that dutch elm disease could be caught by ginger people and make their hair fall out.

This so enraged people with red hair that the paper was forced to apologise.

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British viewers were enraged when it was announced that the national anthem, God Save the Queen, was to be replaced by a new Euro anthem; to be sung in German.

People were about to take to the streets when the claim was retracted.

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Ornithologists were excited when a rare Russian bird was sighted in the Norfolk fens, sitting in a nest in the middle of an exposed field.

For days, bird watchers gathered and stared at, photographed and studied the white tailed Siberian crane in awe and wonder. It turned out to be a stuffed bird, placed there by someone unkown. Nobody had thought that its evident lack of movement was unusual. Or that there was no such bird as the white tailed Siberian crane.

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Finally, a gem was ran in the seventies claiming that scientists had developed a compressed water tablet for hikers and caravaners. All these intrepid folk had to do was drop the tablet in a bucket, add water, and hey presto you would get a full bucket.

The phone lines were flooded with callers asking where these miracle tablets could be purchased.

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Of course there are many more examples, but we should remember to celebrate days like this, because it is something that reminds us of the absurdity of life, and not to take ourseleves too seriously.

Wibble.

yechydda,