The Ancient Greek Origins of April Fool’s Day
April Fool
‘April Fools’ Day’ or ‘All Fools’ Day’, a day of practical jokes, hoaxes and pranks, falls on the first of April, the month which, incidentally, is named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite (Venus), also known as ‘Aprilis’.
The true origins of April Fools’ Day remain a mystery, but, remembering dear old Gus, from the blockbuster film, ‘My Big Fat Greek wedding’, with his conviction that the Greeks did everything first, I knew, if I searched hard enough, I would find a connection between April Fool’s Day and Ancient Greece, and I did!
The Greek Connection
Amongst numerous speculations of how April fool’s day came about are two with roots in ancient Greece, one is from the Greco – Roman festival, called Hilaria, and the other, the ancient festival in honour of the god Saturn, the Saturnalia.
The Hilaria
This sculpture depicts the goddess Cybele and her human lover, Attis, in whose honor Hilaria was celebrated.
The Hilaria, in Greek ἱλαρός-ilaros, meaning cheerful or merry, were ancient Roman-Greco religious festivals (The Romans took this feast from the Greeks, who called it Ανάβασις- anavasis), celebrated on March 25 in honour of Cybele, the ancient Greek Mother of Gods and included parades, masquerades and jokes to celebrate the first day after the vernal equinox, the start of spring, said to be Mother nature’s way of fooling people by suddenly changing the weather.
The Saturnalia
Saturnalia by Antoine Callet
The Saturnalia, was an ancient Roman festival held on 17 December of the Julian calendar, in honour of the god Saturn, the Roman equivalent to the earlier Greek festival of Kronia – Κρόνια, an Athenian festival held in honor of the god Cronus (Saturn), on the twelfth day of Hekatombaion (Mid- July to mid- August), the first month of the Attic calendar.
During Saturnalia, or, in Greek, the Kronia, all social restraints went out the window, slaves and the free, rich and poor, all dined together, masters served their slaves, who were released from duty, and were allowed to run riot through the streets.
A blind eye was turned on gambling, usually frowned upon and games such as dice (kyboi), knucklebones (astragaloi) an ancient form of today’s jacks, and the board game pessoi , similar to draughts, were freely played.
Ancient Greek painting signed by Alexander of Athens, discovered in Herculaneum, howing five women playing knucklebones, a game which was played during the Attic holiday of Kronia
The gifts exchanged at the festival of Saturnalia, were gag gifts, a practical joke device or toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank.
Dice players fresco from the Osteria della Via di Mercurio (VI 10,1.19, room b), in situ wall fresco, Pompeii
During the Middle Ages, the Festus Fatuorum (the Feast of Fools), celebrated mostly in France, a ritual where a mock pope was elected, is thought to have evolved from the Saturnalia festival.
Today the Greeks call April fool’s Day Protos Aprilis and wish each other Καλή Πρωταπριλιά – kali protoaprilia – have a good first of April.
As in other countries, the Greeks play silly pranks and tell harmless lies; they believe that when someone is duped by a good prank, whatever calamity the person suffered will be turned into good luck.
If it happens to rain on April fool’s day in Greece, the water is said to have healing powers.
Three memorable April fool pranks played by the Greeks are:
1. Critics of Catholicism receive Catholic medal
In 1925, the French government received a message from Athens, Greece, stating that three important French critics of Catholicism, had been awarded the Order of the Redeemer, the highest decoration awarded by the Greek government, also considered a high honor among Catholics, since it symbolizes the rebirth of the Greek nation through divine assistance.
The three men allegedly awarded the accolade were M. Ferdinand Buisson and M. Aulard of the Sorbonne, and M. Victor Basch of the University of Paris.
In reality, the awards had been presented to less controversial figures.
Nobody was ever found responsible for using the Greek government to play such a prank.
Ferdinand Buisson was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
2. Athens pollution alert
In 1982 the “Athens pollution alert” prank was played, Greece’s state-controlled National Radio Network issued a warning that pollution had reached emergency levels in the centre of Athens, which meant that the city would have to be evacuated, all schools closed and drivers must abandon their cars and head for open areas.
Many took the prank seriously and fled from Athens, the radio network had retracted the rumor within three hours.
Athens Pollution Alert (April Fool’s Day – 1982)
One man sued the radio station for $820,000, on the grounds that the prank had caused him mental distress, the director of the network handed in his resignation and the instigator of the hoax was fired.
3. The discovery of the Tomb of Socrates
A marble head of Socrates in the Louvre
In 1995 the Greek Ministry of Culture claimed to have discovered the tomb of Socrates, near the base of the Acropolis during excavation for the Athens metro.
A vase containing traces of hemlock was also said to have been found next to him in the tomb.
The French news wire, Agence France-Presse, was the first to report the story.
Other Possible Origins of April Fool’s Day
France
Some say April fool’s Day originated in 16th century France, when most European towns celebrated New Year’s Day on 25 March, but in 1564 France switched to the Gregorian calendar, moving the celebration of New Year from the last week of March to 1 January.
In those days, owing to an absence of email and mobile phones, news did not travel fast, and those who had failed to hear that New Year’s had moved, and continued to celebrate in March, were ridiculed and played tricks on by the ones who were in the know.
Hieronimus Bosch, The Ship of April Fools
Britain
In Britain, April fool’s Day relates to a 13th century incident in Gotham, Nottinghamshire.
Legend has it that on this day, King John either took it upon himself to annex some land in Gotham for a hunting lodge, which did not go down well with the inhabitants, or, he would be passing through the town, (in the 1400s,any thoroughfare where the king happened to put his foot, instantly became public property).
Determined not to lose their land or road, the townsfolk came up with a sneaky plan to discourage the king from paying them a visit by ‘playing the fool’, this consisted of any kind of crazy and foolish antics they could come up with, including trying to cage birds in roofless cages, or drowning fish.
The King’s soldiers, who invariably travelled ahead of him, came upon a town full of lunatics and advised their king to choose somewhere else as the town was too foolish for him to pass through.
Forever after, April Fools’ Day was a memory of Gotham’s victory over King John.
On April Fools’ Day in England jokes must only be played before 12:00 noon, after that, the jokes or pranks don’t count.
The Laughing Fool. Jacob Cornelisz Van Oostsanen.
Scotland
In Scotland, April fool’s Day is called Hunt the Gowk Day, in plain English, hunt the cuckoo, or foolish person and goes on for two days.
The prank involves sending people on a fool’s errand, the following day is Taily or Tailie Day which involves pinning fake tails or ‘kick me’ signs on people’s posteriors.
‘Tail-Pipe Day’ is the equivalent in Devon.
Other Areas of Europe
In France and others areas of Europe, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland for example, April fool’s Day, is known as Poissons d’Avril – April Fish, which dates back to 1508, when the French poet, Eloy d’Amerval, named a holiday as ‘Poisson d’Avril’.
Another theory is that fish in April are young and foolish, making them easy to catch, poisson d’avril, in French, also refers to someone who is gullible.
A favourite prank on 1 April is to attach a paper fish to someone’s back without them noticing, when the prank is discovered they call out, ‘poisson d’avril’.
Poisson d’avril!
Fish-shaped chocolates are a special treat for poisson d’avril.
Portugal
The Portuguese celebrate April Fools’ Day on the Sunday and Monday before Lent (making it a movable celebration) and only ever play one prank, which is to throw flour over each other.
The best April fool’s pranks ever played
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
April Fools’ Day 1957 The Spaghetti Tree Hoax
In 1957, the BBC, ran a short film of the coming of spring, after a mild winter and what that entailed for Swiss farmers, which was, an unusually large spaghetti crop!
Hundreds of viewers fell for the prank; many of whom called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree, to which the BBC replied, ‘place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best’!
The Taco Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In 1996, Taco Bell ran an ad in six major newspapers stating:
“In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country’s most historic treasures. It will now be called the ‘Taco Liberty Bell’ and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing. While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country’s debt.”
Many politicians’ offices were fooled, as the Service received phone calls from aides to Senators Bill Bradley and J. James Exon.
Arm the Homeless
In 1993, the “Arm the Homeless” coalition sent a press release to a newspaper in Columbus, Ohio saying:
“The Arm the Homeless Coalition will be collecting donations to provide firearms for the homeless of Columbus… Funds are to be used to provide arms, ammunition and firearm safety training for homeless individuals who pass the coalition’s rigorous screening. Homeless are selected for the program on the basis of need, mental and emotional stability, and potential value to society at large.”
The “AP,” CNN, Rush Limbaugh, and the “Columbus Dispatch” did stories about the group, which turned out to be three students from OSU that had no intention of arming the homeless but wanted to “draw attention to the issues of guns and violence, homelessness and media manipulation in our society.” Other groups have repeated the hoax since then.
Nixon’s Second Term
Richard Nixon
In 1992, National Public Radio show: ‘Talk of the Nation’, announced that Richard Nixon was running for a second term as president with the slogan, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”
Listeners were fooled and phoned the show in their hundreds.
Later the host revealed it was a joke and that Nixon’s voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.
Wisconsin State Capitol Collapses
Wisconsin’s Capitol Collapses Photo Hoaxes org
In 1933, the “Madison Capital-Times” announced that the capitol building had collapsed after a string of strange explosions, attributed to large quantities of gas, generated through many weeks of long-winded debate in the Senate and Assembly chambers.”
The more conservative were outraged, while those with a sense of humour, found it hilarious.
On the first day of every month Greeks say to each other: Καλό μήνα- Kalo Mina, meaning, I wish you a good month, so, from me to you all, Καλή Πρωταπριλιά και Καλό μήνα…….
Have a good April fool’s Day and a good month.
