I will list some of the sites that I did find, and I will use the History Channel's web page write up to give you some history ---- and to think ---- the Library staff over the years have just tied up chairs to desks, taped drawers shut, tied together staplers, mouses, scissors and tape dispensers, changed out calendars for older ones (yes, we think ahead - after all, we are always three weeks ahead), removed coat racks and all personal items from desks ---- what did we know!!!! I have to start working on my fishes - yes you have to read more to find out about this!
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.
Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also speculation that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.
April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper," scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
Here are some additional sites to check out:
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day
National Geographic - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120329-april-fools-day-2012-pranks-facts-history-origins/
Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/april-fools-day-the-history-of-pranks-video/2012/03/30/gIQAKaSrlS_blog.html
infoplease - http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/society/april-fool-day.html
Have fun!
