APRIL

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April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendarand one of four with the length of 30 days. See Months in various calendars.

 

April begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Aries and ends in the sign of Taurus. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Pisces and ends in the constellation of Aries.

 

The derivation of the name (Latin Aprilis) is uncertain. The traditional etymology from the Latin aperire, "to open," in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to "open," is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of ἁνοιξις (opening) for spring. Since all the Roman months were named in honour of divinities, and as April was sacred to Venus, the Festum Veneris et Fortunae Virilis being held on the first day, it has been suggested that Aprilis was originally her month Aphrilis, from her Greek name Aphrodite, or from the Etruscan name Apru. Jacob Grimm suggests the name of a hypothetical god or hero, Aper or Aprus.

 

The Anglo-Saxons called April Oster-monath or Eostur-monath, the period sacred to Eostre or Ostara, the pagan Saxon goddess of spring, from whose name is derived the modern Easter. St George's day is the twenty-third of the month; and St Mark's Eve, with its superstition that the ghosts of those who are doomed to die within the year will be seen to pass into the church, falls on the twenty-fourth. In China the symbolical ploughing of the earth by the emperor and princes of the blood takes place in their third month, which frequently corresponds to our April; and in Japan the feast of Dolls is celebrated in the same month.

 

The "days of April" (journées d'avril) is a name appropriated in French history to a series of insurrections at Lyons, Paris and elsewhere, against the government of Louis Philippe in 1834, which led to violent repressive measures, and to a famous trial known as the procès d'avrill.

 

April was originally the second month of the Roman calendar and had 29 days. Julius Caesar's calendar reform in 45 BCE resulted in April having 30 days and becoming the fourth month, as the year now began in January.

 

When writing about April, Ovid said "I have come to the fourth month, full of honor for you; Venus, you know both the poet and the month are yours." Someone later pointed out that "April was sacred to Venus, and her festival–the Festum Veneris and Fortuna Virilis–occurred on the first day of this month." Apparently Aprilis stems from aphrilis, corrupted from Aphrodite, a Greek name for Venus. Some oppose this, believing the month's name may have originated from that of a sky-god named Aper or Aprus.

 

APRIL FOOL

April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends and neighbours, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. In some countries, April Fool's jokes (also called "April fools") are only made before midday.

Origin

The origin of this custom has been much disputed, and many theories have been suggested, e.g. that it is a farcical commemoration of Christ being sent from Ananus to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate, the crucifixion having taken place about the 1st of April.

What seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year's day, the 25th of March, ended on the 1st of April.

It has been suggested that Europe derived its April-fooling from the French. France was one of the first nations to make January 1 officially New Year's Day (which it already was popularly), by decree of Charles IX. This was in 1564, even before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Thus the New Year's gifts and visits of felicitation which had been the feature of the 1st of April became associated with the first day of January, and those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair game for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April. French and Dutch references from 1508 and 1539 respectively describe April Fool's Day jokes and the custom of making them on the first of April.

Though the 1st of April appears to have been anciently observed in Great Britain as a general festival, it was apparently not until the beginning of the 18th century that the making of April-fools was a common custom. In Scotland the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," i.e. the cuckoo, and April-fools were "April-gowks," the cuckoo being there, as it is in most lands, a term of contempt. In France the person fooled is known as poisson d'avril. This has been explained from the association of ideas arising from the fact that in April the sun quits the zodiacal sign of the fish. A far more natural explanation would seem to be that the April fish would be a young fish and therefore easily caught.

The Dutch celebrate the 1st of April for other reasons. In 1572, the Netherlands were ruled by Spain's King Phillip II. Roaming the region were Dutch rebels who called themselves Geuzen, after the French "gueux", meaning beggars. On April 1, 1572, the Geuzen seized the small coastal town of Den Briel. This event was also the start of the general civil rising against the Spanish in other cities in the Netherlands. General Alva of the Spanish army could not prevent the uprising. Bril is the Dutch word for glasses, so on April 1, 1572, "Alva lost his glasses". Dutch people find this joke so hilarious they still commemorate the first of April.

Chaucer's story, the Nun's Priest's Tale, written c.1400, takes place on March 32; that is, April 1. Chanticleer and the Fox is a story of two fools.

REFERENCES and LINKS

• BBC article

• University of Kansas

• April Fool's Parade Pictures - London 2006

• The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time

• Uncyclopedia's list of the 100 worst April Fool's Jokes

• April Fool's Day Origins

• April Fool's Day Origins

• April Fools' Day Pranks 

• 1957: BBC fools the nation

• The Fools Day - Includes hoaxes, pranks, trivia, history, quotes, messages, funny party ideas and April Fool recipes.

• Perpetrator's Account of the Kremvax Hoax

• CBC Digital Archives - April Fool's Day: The Joke's on Us!

• April Fools! A list of noteworthy hoaxes on popular sites on the internet for April Fools 2006.

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