April Fool’s Day

April means, “to open” – probably because it is the season when buds begin to open! Romans called Aprilis. April also means the name Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of Love. Playing tricks is an age-old fashion, which seems to have started by early English, Scot and French settlers. Exactly how, where and why the game of fooling started is not known but people started playing tricks all over the world on the first day of April. Some believe that when Julius Caesar revised the Roman calendar in 46 BC, April became the fourth month. Later, Charles IX in 1564 adopted the reformed calendar to begin with a New Year on 1st January instead New Year celebration from 21st March to 1st April. Some people went on celebrating the New Year on 1st April and so; these people came to be known as April Fools. In France, the victim of practical jokes is called April fish, In Scotland, a cuckoo and in English April Fool. It is a purpose for pure merriment. This is the day when people shake off their dignity and even a person of high status accepts the innocent tricks with humor.