Hyderabad: 

 April 1 is known for its tradition of people making fools of each other by playing practical jokes. The origin of this custom is obscure but it has been in common practice throughout the world for at least 300 years and enjoyed by all age groups.

Stories related to April Fools' Day

News did not always travel fast in those days so not everyone got the word that the start of the New Year changed to January 1. They kept celebrating it on April 1, and they were widely mocked as April Fools.

The practice of telling April Fools' jokes spread rapidly, and it has continued to date. These jokes work best on people who have not been paying attention to the calendar.

The story goes back to the 1500s in France when the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar) was replaced with the Gregorian calendar (introduced by Pope Gregory XIII and still used in most parts of the world). In the old Julian calendar, the new year began on April 1, but with the new Gregorian calendar, the new year was set to begin on January 1.

April Fools' Day celebration around the World

France

French traditions for April Fools’ Day date back over 500 years. It is said that the phrase “poisson d’avril” may originate with the Celts, who were great fishermen. The fishing season began on April 1, but if they hadn’t caught a great haul on their first day back in the water, some of the fishermen were prone to lie.

Now, children stick paper fish to the backs of people – even strangers – so if you’re traveling in France on April 1 and you hear “poisson d’avril!” shouted out, check your back!

Greece

In Greece, there’s a superstition around pranking people on April 1. They believe that if you successfully play a trick on someone, it will bring you good luck for the rest of the year. Those in farming communities believe that a couple of good pranks will bring a bountiful harvest that year, and others even think that the rain has healing properties on the first day of April. So, dancing in the rain on April 1 in Greece will be completely normal to onlookers.

Scotland

North of the border, the Scots had two days where they would play jokes on their friends and neighbours. They used to call April 1 as 'Huntigowk Day', where gowk meant a foolish person. The gowk would be handed a sealed message to bring to someone, that read “Dinna laugh, dinna smile, hunt the gowk another mile.”

This meant the person should tell the gowk to deliver another sealed message to someone else, which read the same. This would continue until the gowk realised there was no message at all and he had been tricked. The following day was called Tailie day, where tails would be pinned on people’s backs for a joke.

Netherlands

Dutch people like to play jokes on April 1, but they also have a commemoration of seizing the town of Den Briel from the Spanish on this day in 1572. Until that time, the Netherlands was under Spanish rule but this event pushed forward an uprising which drove them to their independence. The commander in-charge of troops at Den Briel was the Duke of Alba, so they like to say “Alba lost his glasses,” as the Dutch word for glasses is “Bril”. It’s a little in-joke for the Dutch, but now guests on the Country Roads of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands will know why.

Latin America

Much of Latin America celebrates “El Dia de los Inocentes,” or “Day of the Innocents,” a late December Catholic feast with extremely un-silly origins that somehow became a day of jokes and pranks. So for those cultures, the day to watch out for is December 28. In Brazil, however, April 1 is still the prank day of choice, and they cut straight to the chase by calling it “Dia das Mentiras,” or “Day of Lies.”

Iran

Iran could boast the oldest April Fools’ traditions with its observance of Sizdah Bedar, which also has a prank-playing element. It’s celebrated on the thirteenth day of the Persian New Year on April 1 or 2. Sizdah Bedar, which is said to have been celebrated as far back as the 5th century BC, is translated as “getting rid of 13,” so it has an appropriately superstitious air. It’s also considered a spring festival, which ties in to some other April Fool’s predecessors, like the ancient Roman celebration of Hilaria.

Brazil

April 1 is called “o dia das mentires”, meaning “day of lies” and celebrating it has been popular since 1828, when a satirical paper called A Mentira announced that the emperor and founder of Brazil, Don Pedro, had died. This seems like quite a serious news item, but Brazilians still believe that making light of things is an easier way to deal with the modern world! Dia de Mentira lives on.

Poland

It boasts of a unique tradition with Prima Aprilis, offering pranksters a cautionary farewell phrase: ‘Prima Aprilis, uważaj, bo się pomylisz!’ (April Fools’ Day, be careful — you can be wrong!), a nugget of wisdom apt for any time of year.

India

In India, April Fool’s Day is the day to play pranks on our friends and family. The only day other than Holi when 'bura na maano' actually works. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient.

The beginning of April is always on a humorous note, as April Fools’ Day is celebrated all across the globe. No matter how dark the world gets, a little cheer never hurts anybody. On this day, people indulge in harmless fun and pull pranks on each other.

But remember, All Fool’s Day actually begins at midnight and finishes at noon. Play a joke after the deadline and you might get shouted in your ear, ’’April Fool’s gone and past, You’re the biggest fool at last!’’

Italy

The Finns are such pranksters that April 1 doesn’t even appear on their calendar, so you might miss it altogether! Much like Ireland and England, jokes are played on people in the morning, presumably because people still haven’t realised it’s April 1. If they get away with the trick, they sing a line that translates as “It’s April, eat herring and drink dirt water on top.” People from Finland have said the phrase doesn’t make sense and it’s not really supposed to. In recent years, the police force in Finland decided to prank their Facebook followers by announcing that they were getting new uniforms that changed colour in the sun, to make them more visible in traffic.

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