April Fools' Day Origin and Customs

The origin and customs of April Fools' Day

The origin and customs of April Fools' Day, April Fools' Day, also known as the Feast of All Fools, is scheduled for April 1 every year, is a traditional folk festival in Western countries. On this day no matter who can joke and deceive each other, the following share the origin and customs of April Fools' Day.

The origin and customs of April Fool's Day1

The origin and customs of April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day, also known as the Feast of 10,000 Fools, is a traditional folk festival in Western society. The festival is held on April 1 every year. April Fools' Day has similarities with the ancient Roman festival of Hilaria (March 25) and the Indian festival of joy. The timing is related to the "spring equinox" (March 21st). During this period, the weather often changes suddenly, as if nature were fooling mankind.

The origin of April Fools' Day is a matter of opinion. One theory suggests that the custom originated in India as the "festival of the hermeneutics". The festival stipulates that on March 31 every year, men, women and children can joke with each other, fool each other and deceive each other for entertainment, which is similar to April Fool's Day.

Legend:

Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, was a well-known deity in Greece. She had unlimited magical powers to fertilize the land and make it rich in grain, or to make the fields barren and everything wither. She was also one of the most revered goddesses among the Greek gods. Zeus, the king of the gods, was her brother and her husband. This status alone was enough to make the gods bow down at her feet.

But the life of this immensely powerful goddess was not perfect. Zeus by virtue of the status of the king of the gods, everywhere in the womanizing, made a lot of affair, to Demeter brought endless trouble. The only thing that allows her to enjoy the joys of life, or her and Zeus born daughter Persephone, an intelligent, beautiful, innocent, lively girl, and with her, no one will not be sad and sorrowful.

On this day, Hades, the king of the underworld, was driving on a tour of Sicily, and happened to be seen by Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who was walking through the clouds, and at the same time she was shown Persephone, who was strolling in the fields, and her companions Athena, the goddess of war, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

At the sight of these men, Aphrodite was furious. These men and women, never talk about love, nor talk about marriage, eyes can still have the status of her goddess of love? Athena and Artemis are known as chaste goddesses, but also to martial arts, magical powers, known as the gods of heaven, or not to mess with the good. But for Persephone, this little girl, there is no need to be polite.

So Aphrodite, with a divine halo bobbing on her head, called over her son? How can we rule the world if men and gods follow their example? Come, shoot an arrow at Hades, and make him fall madly in love with Persephone!"

Eros was a crack shot. He bends his bow and shoots a skillful and invisible arrow of lust right into the heart of Hades. Then he followed Aphrodite and left, waiting for the show.

Sure enough, Hades was struck by the arrow and fell in love with Persephone. But he understood very well that this far-famed beauty would never willingly give up the sunny earth and sky to go with him to the gloomy underworld. So he went to his brother Zeus, the king of the gods, and asked him to give up the sunny earth and sky for the dark underworld. Zeus, the king of the gods, and asked him to do the honors of marrying his daughter into the underworld.

"This one? ...... I can't make the decision," said the lord of the gods, musingly, "As you know, Demeter is difficult to deal with. However, if you are capable of snatching Persephone away, I have no objection."

Having received the acquiescence and hint from the king of the gods, Hades was so full of joy that he immediately returned to the Underworld and made preparations to snatch his bride.

One day, Persephone was in a field about to bend down and pick a wildflower when the earth suddenly opened up in a wide crack. Then a glittering golden chariot, rushed up to the ground, driven by the mighty King of the Underworld. Without a word, he picked up Persephone and placed her on the seat beside him, and with a yell, the carriage sank into the ground at a swift and inexorable pace.

The cracked earth closed abruptly, still sunny and green, and nothing seemed to have happened except Persephone's cries for help echoing in the sky. Demeter heard her daughter's heart-rending cries for help from a great distance away. But when she flew back as fast as she could, her daughter was gone. She only knew that her daughter had been robbed by "robbers", but she could not find any trace of who the robbers were.

The gods who knew of Persephone's whereabouts were silent.

The gods who knew about Persephone's whereabouts kept quiet. They knew the background of the case, and that Zeus and Hades were not to be trifled with, so they did not want to get burned. There were a few gods who were *questioned* anxiously, and they also made up a bunch of nonsense about east and west and north and south. The goddess followed their directions, headless as a fly, and needless to say, these became a futile trek.

However, love for his daughter . Love drove Demeter to search forever. She was sure of whatever any of the gods had said. Though, as it turned out, those were outright lies. In desperation, she lit two pine torches in the unfathomable crater of Mount Etna, illuminating the entire world. Since then, neither the Goddess of Dawn nor the Goddess of Night has been seen to sit down for a moment's rest.

In this way Demeter traveled all over the world. However, her daughter became like water vapor and floating clouds, and remained nowhere to be seen. The gods gradually changed their sympathy for her to disgust. For this "madwoman", in search of her daughter, stirred up the world without a moment's peace. The more they took her, the more they opened their hearts to her, pointing to the southeast and northwest, just to get her out of the way and live a few days of peace and quiet.

Finally, Demeter had to drag her tired body back to Sicily, where Persephone disappeared. After all these many days of running around without even knowing who the culprit was, the goddess was understandably exasperated. So she took a bellyful of grievances to the Sicilian peasants. She killed all the plowing oxen on the island, ordered the land to be as hard as steel, sealed the seeds in the ground, and made all the plants wither and die. And she made this great island, which is so vast in territory, a land of nakedness and starvation.

Zeus saw that she was too much, and "kindly" advised her to look elsewhere, and not to take it out on the innocent farmers. Demeter did not know that there is fraud, once again embarked on the journey of the East and West shopping. This is a great thing, I do not know how many places, due to the anger of the goddess, became grainless, and everywhere is filled with famine and the atmosphere of despair.

When she realized that she was on her husband a big time, only to be quiet, think about what to do in the end, inadvertently she looked up and saw driving a golden car, cruising in the vast space of the sun god Helios. Suddenly thought, only he is high above, shining all, clear vision, anything that happens under the sky, it is impossible to escape his eyes. So he flew to Helios with a torch in his hand and asked him to show him the way.

The great sun god took pity on the goddess and had no need to fear the power of Hades. Moreover, he was not willing to let Demeter go on making such a fuss, making the gods laugh and the common people suffer, so he described carefully the circumstances of Hades' bride-stealing. Demeter suddenly realized, but it was too late. At this moment, Persephone in Hades, under the threat * lure, has become the noble queen of the underworld, can no longer go to earth and mother reunion. What's more, Demeter is not capable of taking her daughter from Hades by force, even if she is powerful.

When Demeter realized that she had been deceived and fooled by the gods, her resentment and anger deepened. She simply gave an order that all the plants of the world should wither together, all the crops should die, and not a trace of green should be allowed to appear on the earth. She herself hid in a remote place, no longer show her face.

In this way, the sky and the earth were all in chaos. The people had no food to eat, and every day thousands of people died of starvation. Hordes of dead souls crowded into the underworld, noisy and noisy, the Hades made distracted, woeful. The gods were also starving one by one because they could not get sacrifices and gifts from the earth.

Zeus had no choice but to let Persephone live in the underworld 1/3 of the time each year, and 2/3 of the time to return to the human world to serve her mother. In the future, whenever Persephone stayed in the underworld, Demeter was sad and the earth was in a state of depression. But once her daughter was reunited with her, the goddess smiled, and the world came back to life with the revival of trees and grass, and the vibrancy of flowers and foliage.

Clearly, Demeter is a complete fool in this story. She didn't know the trick of Eros, didn't know the complicity of her husband and Hades, and after the incident, she was supported by the gods, and was repeatedly deceived and teased. Since then, people have established the Festival of Fools to warn those who think they are clever, with well-intentioned lies, not to be gullible and do stupid things that make a fool of themselves.

The origin of April Fools' Day and its customs2

The origin of April Fools' Day:

1. In 1582, Charles IX, King of France, decided to adopt a newly reformed chronology: the Gregorian calendar (i.e., the universal solar calendar), which took New Year's Day as the beginning of the new year, changing the old practice of taking the first day of April as the start of the new year. However, some old guards opposed this reform and still celebrated the New Year by giving New Year's gifts on this day according to the old calendar. The advocates of the reform made a mockery of these practices of the old guard by giving them fake gifts and inviting them to fake parties. Since then, the practice of playing tricks on people on this day has spread. When a person is deceived, the trickster will shout: "April fool" ("POISSON DAVRIL"), meaning "April prank". Clever and funny people on April 1 to give them false gifts, invite them to participate in a false reception. And the gullible conservatives called "April fools" or "hooked fish". Since then, people on April 1, they fooled each other, and became a popular custom in France. 18 century, the April Fools' Day custom to the United Kingdom, and then brought to the United States by the early British settlers.

2, according to British historians: "April Fools' Day" origin is out of the Indian Buddhism that "to reach the other side of the word". The British encyclopedia records that "April Fool's Day" was a holiday of lies that began after the religious revolution of the fifteenth century. At that time, King Philip II of Spain established an "Inquisition of Heretics", and all those who were not Catholics were regarded as heretics and were sentenced to death on April 1 every year. The subjects were so horrified that they lied and laughed every day to dull their fear and hatred of their rulers. Afterwards, it was used for a long time, evolved into today's "April Fool's Day".

3. According to legend, about 1,650 years after Adam, the founder of mankind, God destroyed the world with a flood, but only Adam's third son, Wisdom's descendant, Noah, was left behind, and he saved the lives of his family with a man-made boat. After the flood waters receded a little, Noah released a dove to explore a piece of land after the flood waters receded, because this day happened to be the first day of April. So later people think, in this day to do a kind of meaningless things, as if a dove did white work, behavior stupid, for the "April Fools' Day" of the origin.

4, according to Christians: "April Fools' Day" is to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus was crucified before the cross, forced to run around the descendants of the day to April 1 to commemorate his innocence of such a day to be crucified alive, in fact, contains the meaning of vigilance.

April Fools' Day

How did April Fools' Day come about?

1. It is commonly said to have originated in France

2. According to British historians, the origin of April Fools' Day is the Indian Buddhist phrase "to reach the other side of the sea". And the British encyclopedia is recorded: "April Fools' Day" is the fifteenth century A.D. after the religious revolution began to appear a lying holiday.

3. According to legend, about 1,650 years after Adam, the founder of mankind, God destroyed the world with a flood, but only Adam's third son, Wisdom's descendant, Noah, was left behind, and he saved the lives of his family with a man-made boat. After the flood waters receded a little, Noah released a dove to explore a piece of land after the flood waters receded, because this day happened to be the first day of April. So later people think, in this day to do a kind of meaningless things, as if a dove did white work, behavior stupid, for "April Fool's Day" of the origin.

Customs

April Fools' Day (AprilFoolsDay), also known as the Festival of Fools, is a traditional festival of civil society in Western societies, the festival in the April 1 every year. With the ancient Roman hippie festival (Hilaria, March 25) and India's joy festival (Holi, to March 31 until) have similarities. The more common theory is that it originated in France. It is a day when people joke about those around them in a number of ways, and the gullible when told it is April Fool's Day come to their senses.

So the day has always led to many jokes, although some jokes can go too far and cause panic, or change the situation to become (internet) rumors and urban legends. Nowadays, people don't go as far as they used to during the holidays, but rather aim for light-hearted fun.

On April Fools' Day, people often organize family gatherings and decorate their rooms with daffodils and daisies. Typically, the tradition is to set up a fake environment, and the room can be decorated as if it were Christmas. It can also be decorated as if the New Year, when guests come, then congratulate them on "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year", people feel chic and interesting.

April 1, the fish feast. It is also unique. The invitations to the fish dinner are usually small, colorful fish made of cardboard. Table decorated in green and white. In the center of the fish tank and small, delicate fishing rods, each fishing rod tied a green ribbon, hanging gifts for the guests or a delicate celluloid fish, or a fish basket full of sweets. It goes without saying that all the dishes at the fish feast are made from fish.

There is also a custom of making fake dishes at April Fool's Day parties. Someone once described a typical April Fool's Day menu: first a "salad", lettuce leaves sprinkled with green peppercorns, but the leaves uncovered, only to find that the bottom is oyster cocktail; the second dish is "baked potato", in fact, the bottom is sweet bread crumbs and fresh mushrooms; since then on the dishes and the use of crab as a camouflage of roasted chicken and buried in the tomato salad under the cover of the raspberry ice cream buried under a tomato salad. At the end of the meal, guests can also take candy from a pill box.

But the most typical activity on April Fools' Day is the joking around and making fun of each other with falsehoods. Some people throw purses tied with thin threads on the street, pulling the other end of the thread themselves in the dark. As soon as someone picks up the wallet, they surprise them by yanking it away violently. Others put a brick in the middle of the street under a tattered hat and wait to see who comes along and kicks it.

Kids will tell their parents that their bag has a hole in it, or that they have a black spot on their face. When adults leaned over to look, they shouted "April fool" and ran away laughing. and run away laughing. Anyway, on April Fool's Day, zoos and aquariums also get a lot of calls to Mr. Fish, Mr. Tiger, often causing the staff to cut the phone lines to minimize the hassle.