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Young World
All Fools' Day
RACHNA CHHABRIA
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Everybody loves a good joke and on April 1 you can give free reign to your imagination
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HEAVYWEIGHT EMPEROR PENGUIN: Dressed to shock on April Fools' day at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. PHOTO: AFP
April 1 is the most eagerly
awaited day for pranksters.
It is also known as
All Fools' Day. Someone played
a prank on or tricked on that
day, is called an April Fool.
Some suggestions attribute
this custom to be a relic of the
once prevalent practice of unlocking
the gates of the mental
institutions, and allowing the
inmates to roam at large on
April 1. Released from the asylum
on this one day, they became
the unfortunate victims,
of heartless pranksters who
asked them to perform acts
which obviously were beyond
them and their capabilities, thus
in every sense sending them on a
fool's errand.
Jokes galore
Some people believe that April
Fools Day was started by a practical
joker, others believe that it
was started by a calendar, the Julian
calendar, used for many hundreds
of years before the more
modern Gregorian calendar.
The Julian calendar was not very
accurate as calendars usually
are, it kept changing from one
year to another until New Year's
Day actually moved from January
1 to the beginning of April.
When the Gregorian calendar
came into use, New Year's Day
was moved back where it belonged
to - January 1. But some
people who either didn't like the
change or who had a pretty good
sense of humour continued to
celebrate it on April 1. Pretty soon
these people became something
of a joke and their neighbours began
playing pranks on them as
they celebrated their April New
Year's Day.
The celebrations in England
during the 1700s came to be
known as All Fool's Day and was
celebrated with comic greetings,
mock gifts and practical
jokes.
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