01/04/2012
Many
theories have been put forward about how the tradition began.
Unfortunately, none of them are conclusive. Thus, the origin of the
“custom of making April fools” remains as much a mystery to us as it was
back in 1708 CE.
The
most popular theory about the origin of April Fools’ Day involves the
French calendar reform of the sixteenth century. The theory goes like
this: In 1564 CE France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the
year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up
with the change, and stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and
continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between
March 25 and April 1, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would
surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this
prank were thus called 'poisson d’Avril', or April fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools' Day — and so the tradition was born.
Others
say that this started a long time before that, and that it was
initiated during the ancient ages as a part of polytheistic celebrations
on a set date on the beginning of the spring season. Yet others say
that fishing did not yield any catch in the first days of the spring
season and thus this was innovated as a new practice on the first of
April.
According
to legend, the Duke of Lorraine and his wife were imprisoned at Nantes.
They escaped on April 1, 1632 CE by disguising themselves as peasants
and walking through the front gate. Someone noticed them escaping and
told the guards. But the guards believed the warning to be a “poisson d’Avril” (or April Fools’ Day joke) and laughed at it, thus allowing the Duke and his wife to escape.
“April’s
fish” was also said to be due to the movement of the sun from Pisces
(February 20- March 20) to the next sign. Some theories believe that it
was given this name after altering the word 'passion' (as a symbol for
the torture that Jesus
suffered) to 'poisson d’Avril'.British
folklore links April Fools’ Day to the town of Gotham, the legendary
town of fools located in Nottinghamshire. According to the legend, it
was a tradition in the 13th century for any road that the King placed
his foot upon to become public property. So when the citizens of Gotham
heard that King John planned to travel through their town, they refused
him entry, not wishing to lose their main road. When the King heard
this, he sent soldiers to the town. But when the soldiers arrived in
Gotham, they found the town full of lunatics engaged in foolish
activities such as drowning fish or attempting to cage birds in roofless
fences. Their foolery was all an act, but the King fell for the ruse
and declared the town too foolish to warrant punishment. Ever since
then, according to legend, April Fools’ Day has commemorated their
trickery.
The first lie on this occasion was recorded in a British magazine. The April 2, 1698 CE edition of Dawks’s News-Letter (a British newspaper) reported that, “Yesterday being the first of April, several persons were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed.”
Sending gullible victims to the Tower of London to see the “washing of
the lions” (a non-existent ceremony) was a popular prank. It became
traditional for this prank to be played on April Fools’ Day. Examples of
it occur as late as the mid-nineteenth century In the eighteenth
century written references to April Fools’ Day became numerous and
appeared throughout Europe.
One of the most famous incidents that happened in Europe on April 1, was when the English newspaper, The Evening Star, announced in March 1746 CE that on the following day – April 1st
– there would be an parade of donkeys in Islington, in England. The
people rushed to see these animals and there was a huge crowd. They
continued waiting and when they got tired of waiting, they asked about
when the parade would be held. They did not find anything, and then they
finally realized that they had come to make an exhibition of
themselves, as if they were the donkeys!
The
above was just to show the history of this event. However, it is not
important to know what is its real source or how it originated. What
matters to us is the ruling of lying on this day.
This
practice certainly never existed in the bright eras of Islam during
which the Muslims highly cherished the rulings of Islam and adhered to
them as closely as they could. This event was certainly not initiated by
the Muslims, but rather, by their enemies.
The
unfortunate part is that many Muslims have made it a common practice
for them to lie to their wives, friends or relatives and cause them
great sorrow and frighten them by lying on this day, claiming that it is
only a joke. Many a times, people have died as a result of some of
these lies due to heart attacks or become paralyzed from the impact of
the lie on them. Some people have even divorced their wives and others
have uttered such lies about a man’s wife that he went and killed her.
There
is no end to such tragic stories associated with this day. The only way
one can restrain him/herself from falling in this evil practice is by
remembering the Islamic ruling which prohibits lying even in jest.