Saturday, April 01, 2006

April Fools' Day

One possible origin for April Fools' Day, or All Fools' Day.

My favorite explanation for this holiday, and the likeliest sounding, is found here:

Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

The problem with that explanation is that the good professor invented it. Never happened. Was, itself, an April Fools' joke.

As not a particularly subtle person, I've played my share of practical jokes, over the years.

Just wanted to remind y'all to be a bit skeptical, today.

Happy April.

9 comments:

Mac said...

I suspect the world is divided into jokers and jokees.

I haven't gotten much further than that with the hypothesis, however.

Mac said...

Tilly, I was in on it--and they still almost convinced me.

Of course, I was semi-conscious with a bad head cold and a fever all day.

*sigh*

Anonymous said...

Such a great day, and i realize that I haven't pulled an April fool's prank in ages.

And I missed the mods getting banned. I'll have to look into that!

Anonymous said...

Mac, why am I not surprised that you're a joker? *grin*

Yesterday, I was "taken" for a bit. Then, I realized the wrong individuals were arguing and being banned. Finally, ah, April fool's day early? Maybe? Could be. Waited and watched.

T. M. Hunter said...

The other side of the coin, however, is if something terrible really happens, and everyone thinks that it's only an April Fool's joke...

ohdawno said...

Back when my son was younger my daughter and I would deliberately not let him know it was April Fool's day. (he was never much for following calendars so he never knew what the date was - and sometimes not even what weekday it was) Sometimes he didn't know until we told him at bedtime.

Esther Avila said...

I was always one for pulling pranks. Rarely can they be pulled on me - not on April first anyway, any other time, I'm so gullible. I still do a few, but nothing like before. I remember one bad one. I would never dare pull such a stunt today. It would jail me! But it was darn funny at the time!

Anne C. Watkins said...

Hope you're feeling better, Mac. *hug* Of course, now you're exposed to that parrot thing. lol

Dama Negra said...

Lol, me and bf are usually the jokers, so whenever we start whispering to each other, all of our friends run away and get on their guards in anticipation, lol!!