It’s that time of the year when you can prank your friends with zero guilt as April 1 is celebrated as Fools’ Day. Even though it first originated in Europe, it has – in no way – been limited to reach out to the western world. The whole world gears up for this day and celebrates it to create some embarrassing and hilarious memories. According to the historians, Pope Gregory XIII ruled the new calendar to start from January 1 back in 1582, instead of the hitherto celebrations of the New Year at the end of March, making it the most popular belief of the roots of April Fools’ Day.
So, April 1 is considered to lay in the change of calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian one. France became the first country to accept and practice this change in the annual calendar. However, there were other countries in Europe who refused to accept it and continued with the Julian calendar. As a result, those who accepted the new calendar considered others to be fools because they refused to change.
Moreover, it is also believed during ancient days there was a custom of merrymaking as they entered into the spring season. For instance, in ancient Rome, a festival called ‘Hilaria’ was celebrated on the last week of March as the day when God Attis was resurrected. On similar lines, India observes the festival of Holi during the same time of the year as an occasion for playful jubilation by spraying colours on each other.
As a result, there is an atmosphere of fun and playful attitude that has been observed world over for centuries during the time of the year when winter gives way to spring.