Unknown things about April Fool’s Day!

April Fool's Day (1/4), also known as the Lying Day, is a funny and attractive festival, to those who are mischievous and funny. April Fool's Day has been becoming more and more popular in many countries around the world.

1. The origin of April Fool's Day

According to experts on urban legends, most people believe that April Fool's Day has appeared since The Gregory XIII offered system to calculate solar calendar like nowadays.

France is considered to be the homeland of April Fool's Day. In 1562, Gregory XIII (1502-1585) decided to change the first day of the New Year which used to be stipulated on the 1st of April into the 1st of January.

However, due to backward means of communications at that time when news was spread out mainly by running, it was not until several years after the news of changing solar calendar was officially published that many could update the news.

And even when some people knew about the solar calendar change, they did not accept the new calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year on the first of April.  As a result, this toughness was considered to be "silly" and became a laughing stock for everyone.

And others knowing this story jokingly called the April, 1st was The Lying Day". Since then, the name "April Fool’s Day" or “Lying Day " has appeared officially.

Even though this story seems to be very logical and credible, it remains to be seen as a hypothesis due to its lack of historical evidence and its only absolute basing on conjecture of historians. The accurate origin of "April Fools" remains a mystery of history.

Though April Fool’s Day is not an official holiday, it is held in many countries every year to celebrate on April, 1st by spreading rumors, telling lies or joking about a variety of topics to make fun or tease someone.

2. The other names of April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day started from France and spread to other countries with many interesting names. This day was called "Poisson d'Avril" (April Fools) and April Fool in France and in the UK respectively.

In France, "April Fools" was known as Poisson d'Avril, (April Fool's Day), which is also the origin of Vietnamese name of this day. On this day, French children often cut pieces of paper to make the fish-shaped ones and flatten them against the classmate’s back secretly and then shouted "Poisson d’Avril!!!" (April Fool!!!) when those unlucky people realized the joke.

In Scotland, the name of April, 1st day coincided with the name of a species of cuckoo - April "Gowks". The name of April Fool's Day here was based on the game of trying to sneak a a fish made of paper on the back of the "victim" without being detected.

Around the world, it can be easily seen that several other countries have some traditional holidays which are similar to the day of this hoax.

The ancient Romans used to have a holiday called Hilaria to honor the God Attis. The name Hilaria sounds very similar to hilarity (fun) in English. Until now, Hilaria ceremony was has still been kept partly under the name "Roman Laughing Day".

Some non-Western countries also have similar traditions to the day "April Fool" on their own.

In Persia, there was is also a holiday with a similar theme, known as Sizdahbedar. On this day, which usually coincides with the April 1st, the Iranians also tease each other with hilarious hoaxes.

3. Time for lies on April Fool's Day

It is free for everyone to tell lies and the words of boast together on April 1st. However, your lies will not be forgiven in case you tell a lie at an inappropriate time

You can lie all day in the US, France, Ireland ... but just tell a lie till the noon of April 1st in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

4. The best quote about April Fool's Day

Mark Twain – a famous American novelist made a very interesting comment about April Fool's Day: “The first day of April helps us understand clearly the quality of ourselves during the rest 364 days.”

5. Children are the most important on April Fool's Day in Flemish (Belgian)

According to the Flemish tradition, on the April Fool's Day children are allowed to confine teachers and parents in the room and make the request of exchange.

Translated by Huong Hoang

Proofread by ELTiCenter

(Vietnamese source: http://vtc.vn/nhung-dieu-chua-biet-ve-ngay-ca-thang-tu.538.547712.htm)