Did you know that? Where does April Fool's Day come from?
- Jo
- Apr 6, 2022
- 3 min read
The new calendar of Charles IX
Among the different origins of this holiday, the most famous goes back to Charles IX, King of France, who decided, with the Edict of Roussillon, August 9, 1564, to set January 1 as the first official day of the year. Until then, the year began on March 25, the Christian day of the Annunciation (nine months before Christmas). And it was customary to give gifts to celebrate the new year during the days that followed, until April 1.
But at that time, news does not travel fast, and many people are not aware of this change. So they continue to celebrate the new year at the end of March. And then there are those who do not want to change and also continue in the tradition. It would be to make fun of them that some pranksters had the idea to give them crazy gifts on April 1st.
However, this origin is not certain and does not explain the passage of the hoax to the fish, nor the fact that April 1st is celebrated in many other countries than France.
An ancient festival
Another explanation is that the feast of April 1 falls 12 days after the spring equinox. However, during the ancient times, a day was indeed dedicated to the God of laughter in ancient Greece. This day was dedicated to pranks, fools and role reversal as during the Carnival. This tradition was taken over by the Romans with the goddess Aphrodite.
This explanation is the most likely if we take into account the equivalent festivals in the rest of Europe and the world.
From messenger to joker
We find the use of the expression "poisson d'avril" (April fool) as early as the 15th century, notably in the Doctrinal du temps présent by Pierre Michault, dated 1466; it refers to a "matchmaker, intermediary, young boy in charge of carrying his master's love letters". This use is confirmed by the Livre de la Deablerie by Eloy d'Amerval, dated 1507-1508.
The use of the expression "poisson d'avril" to designate a "deception, traditional mystification of the 1st of April" is only made in the XVIIth century, and we find it in La Vie de Charles V, duc de Lorraine, by Jean de Labrune, dated 1691. It is moreover taken again in the Dictionary of the French Academy in 1718 to speak about the fact of "obliging somebody to make some useless step to have reason to make fun of him".
Why a fish?
Who says fish says animal. It is true that April 1st is, in the Christian tradition, close to Lent, during which meat is forbidden and we are supposed to eat fish instead.
The fish is a recurring symbol in the New Testament, just like the fisherman: it is evoked in many of Jesus' miracles such as the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the miraculous catch, the coin in the mouth of a fish caught by Peter according to Jesus' indication, the grilled fish eaten by Jesus after his resurrection. It is directly related to the Resurrection, the water of baptism and all Christians baptized in the piscina or baptistery, symbol of life in the Old and New Testaments, therefore the living.
In his book "L'ère des Poissons", Paul Le Cour (1871-1954) explains that the Piscean Age began at the birth of Jesus Christ and will end in 2160. It would correspond to the period during which the vernal point would be at the time of the spring equinox in the sign of Pisces (one twelfth of the zodiac circle).
It is also true that the fish refers to the prohibition of fishing in spring in certain areas, to allow the marine fauna to renew itself. It would therefore be a tradition aimed at consoling fishermen deprived of activity during this period known as "spawning".
Finally, the fish also refers to astrology and the last sign of the zodiac, which marks the end of winter.
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