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April Fools Day originated in France in 1582, under the
rule of king Charles IX, when he reformed the Julian
calendar to create the present day calendar that we
still follow today. Prior to this new Gregorian
calendar, New Year's celebrations lasted 8 days, from
March 25th until April 1st -- with April 1st being the
start of each new year. With the onset of the new
calendar however, New Year's Day was abruptly moved to
January 1st, which as you can imagine confused
many.
Prior to the onset of mass
media and telecommunications, news during the 16th
century was mostly spread by word of mouth. With
that being said, this new calendar change took some time
to go into full effect, and it took even longer to be
followed by everyone. As a result, many people
were either not aware of this new change, or they
refused to accept this as fact and continued celebrating
New Year's on April 1st as they had always done.
As the years passed and the
calendar began to set in, those who continued to
celebrate the new year 4 months late were marked as "April
Fools", and were subjected to outlandish pranks
& practical jokes. During that time, people
were sent on foolish errands, or received party
invitations to non-existent New Year's parties.
Long after this change went into full swing, people
continued playing jokes on April 1st each year,
generally saying "April Fools" once
they have tricked someone, and thus this yearly
tradition began.
And you didn't think you would learn anything
educational at Zymetrical?
Now over 400 years later, this day is
still marked each year as people play practical jokes
& tricks on their friends & family. From
setting someone's clock an hour fast, to the infamous
bucket of water above a doorway, to pouring a bucket of
glitter into someone's car -- these pranks are only
limited by one's imagination.
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