April Fool’s Day Is an Excuse to Make Offensive Jokes
Simply put, it’s not funny.
I hate April Fool’s Day. I think it’s a useless holiday. People are running around playing pranks on each other, then one of those pranks escalates, and someone either gets hurt or offended.
It happens every year. I mean, seriously, what’s the point of April Fool’s Day? And where does this childish holiday come from?
The Origins of April Fool’s Day.
Some researchers contemplate that the holiday April Fool’s Day originated sometime in the year 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.
People who were unaware that the start of the new year changed to January 1st continued to celebrate the year through the last week of March to April 1st, making them the butt of jokes and hoaxes.
That’s rude. It’s not their fault that they didn’t get the news in time.
HISTORY.com explains,
“Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March by followers of the cult of Cybele. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens and even magistrates.”
Britain started celebrating the holiday during the 18th century, with Scotland’s tradition being a two-day event.
The first day would begin with people being sent on phony errands called “hunting the gowk.” — (gowk is a word known as an awkward or foolish person, or for cuckoo, which is a symbol for a fool.)
The hunting the gowk is followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.
Even in the 18th century, people played mean jokes on others, thinking it was all in good fun. Maybe I’m more on the sensitive side, but having someone put a “kick me” sign on my back would make me extremely upset.
