First day of April is typically Fool’s gold
WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT This weekend, watch your back and stay on your toes because the pranksters, they’re out there.
For those who love to place plastic wrap on toilet seats, Vaseline on door handles or dog poop in paper bags and light them on fire, this is the time to strike — Sunday is April Fool’s Day.
While it’s origin remains clouded in obscurity, April Fools, also known as All Fools Day, has become a tradition here and abroad, attracting a countless number of mischievous individuals looking to prey on the gullible and unsuspecting.
“My friends took one of my two cars … I called the police and went through all the riff raff down at the police station, “ said Ian Kelly, a tourist visiting from Perth, Australia. “That night there was a knock on the door. I looked out the window and saw my car in the driveway.
“I’ve never really been one to do an April Fool’s joke on someone, but they always do it to me,”Kelly added.“I’ll get them back one of these years. I’ll think of something to do.”
Eating pizza on the Third Street Promenade with his wife Kate and their son Tyler, Jason Mu said he has played a few pranks in his day.
“My brother asked me to make him a doctor’s appointment, so I did,” Mu said. “I ended up calling the gynecologist and made him an appointment there. He just walked right out.”
No one is quite sure how April Fools evolved. Many believe is started with Mother Nature and the beginning of spring, when she is said to fool the human race with sudden and fickle changes in the weather — showers one minute and sunshine the next.
The playing of practical jokes, however, dates back to ancient Rome, were such activities were an integral part of the Hilaria celebrations held on March 25, a celebration which would again appear to be associated with the coming of Spring and the Vernal Equinox, held to honor the resurrection of Attis, Roman God of Vegetation who was linked to the seasonal cycle.
In England, an ancient legend states that April Fool’s commemorates the fruitless mission of the Rook (or European Crow) which was sent out in search of land from Noah’s flood-encircled ark, according to the Museum of Hoaxes, which lists the top 100 April Fool’s jokes of all time. The number one prank on their list is the Swiss Spaghetti harvest of 1957, in which the BBC said Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop, and showed footage of peasants pulling down strings of pasta from trees.
It is generally accepted that the All Fool’s Day tradition began in France during the Sixteenth Century, when the beginning of the New Year was observed on April 1 and was celebrated in much the same way as New Year is today with parties and dancing late into the night.
At that time, the festivities ran for a week, beginning on March 25, and included the exchanging of gifts. In 1582, however, during the reign of King Charles IX, Pope Gregory introduced a revised calendar for the Christian world wherein the New Year fell on January 1. Since it took some time, possibly even years, for many people to even hear word of the change (communications being what they were in the Sixteenth Century) and since others refused to accept such reform or simply forgot, New Year’s Day continued to be celebrated on the first day of April in many areas.
Individuals who had accepted the dates of the new calendar played tricks on those who had not and referred to the unfortunate victims of such pranks as “April Fools,” sending them on a “fool’s errand,” such as sending an invitation to a nonexistent party, or attempting to make them believe that something which was true was actually false. Over time, this practice evolved into an annual tradition of April 1.
Not everyone enjoys the pranks, particularly those who are targeted. “[My friend] put some kind of strawberry syrup on me. I hated that,” said John Cunningham, who dislikes April Fools and said as a kid he was the victim of many pranks but refused to retaliate.
Mathew Sheets is the complete opposite. He loves to catch people off guard, especially his parents.
“He put clear tape on the faucet so when you turned it on, water goes everywhere, and my son’s in the other room cracking up,”said Mathew’s mother, Nicole Sheets.
Sheets said he stays prepared just in case people try to retaliate, but so far, they haven’t.
“I do the same stuff back to him, but it doesn’t work,” said Mathew’s sister, Elene Sheets. “It ends up getting us.”
Perhaps certain people are just meant to be fools.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 31, 2007. Read the original PDF.