April Fool's Day

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April Fool's Day

All Fool's Day,

holiday of uncertain origin, known for practical joking and celebrated on the first of April. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1564, the date was observed as New Year's Day by cultures as varied as the Roman and the Hindu. The holiday is considered to be related to the festival of the vernal equinox, which occurs on Mar. 21. The English gave April Fool's Day its first widespread celebration during the 18th cent.

April Fool’s Day

April 1st; a day for playing practical jokes on the unsuspecting. [Western Folklore: Payton, 34]

See: Joke, Practical

References in periodicals archive ?

As with everything else today technology is taking over so why would April Fool's Day jokes be any different?

April Fool's prank takes innocent lives

Dressed in T-shirts, portraying Borisov as Pinocchio, with a sign saying: "April Fool's Day a Day of GERB," the young people handed out brochures with the same caricature and a list of outstanding promises.

Bulgarian Opposition Declares April Fool's Day of Ruling GERB

Before listeners could turn on the engines of their cars and race to see the phenomena, broadcasters hurried to reveal their report was an April Fool's Day prank, and they quickly returned to the real news, headlining the visit of American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and disputes within the Labor party.

Penguin in Israel? April Fool's Hits Gov't Radio

But when it comes to April Fool's Day jokes, they're only on a par with everyday life in Ireland.

IRISHMAN OF THE PEOPLE: We Irish can act the fool any old day of the year

Eliot wrote that "April is the cruelest month," he certainly didn't have April Fool's Day in mind.

A fool and security: soon parted?

When most people think of April Fool's Day, tricks, pranks or even bad jokes come to mind.

Miracles in action: author shares tragedy and turns it into inspiration

Only on April Fool's Day could a man claim to be our community's friend after personally ensuring that Vermonters with AIDS who use medical marijuana continue to face arrest and jail.

The m word. (reader forum)

GENERAL Jay Garner is Paddy Power's 2-1 jolly to be Iraq's head of state next April Fool's Day, writes Ian Coyne.

Politics: Garner 2-1 to be Iraqi boss next April

Electronic communications company Clearswift has issued a number of guidelines for opening e-mails on this year's April Fool's Day (1 April).

Clearswift warns of spam on April Fool's Day

Feature opened its doors on April Fool's Day, 1984 with an exhibition of re-photographs by Richard Prince.

Feature Inc

"Not a word of regret," reports the Tablet (April 13, 2002), "from Father John Medcalf, who caught out dozens of parishioners with a bogus `Blessing of the Waves' on April Fool's Day." Some 50 people waited in vain for the local bishop to perform the ceremony at the end of the pier in Hastings, England.

Catholic tastes

With Easter Monday coinciding with April Fool's Day, Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, as part of this weekend's Big Event celebrations, has organised a number of special events with pranksters in mind.