Introduction to the origin of April Fool’s Day holiday

April Fool's Day, also known as April Fool's Day, is a traditional Western folk festival every year. There are different opinions on its origin: one theory is that this custom originated from the "Quansi Festival" in India. This festival stipulates that on March 31 every year, lovers fool and deceive each other in exchange for entertainment. The more common theory is that it originated in France. In 1564, France first adopted the newly reformed Gregorian calendar (the universal Gregorian calendar), which started the year on January 1st, changing the previous calendar that used April 1st as the start of the new year. During the implementation of the new calendar, some conservative people opposed this reform and still followed the old calendar and refused to update it. They still exchange gifts on April 1st and organize activities to celebrate the New Year. Those who advocated reform ridiculed the practices of these conservatives. Smart and funny people give fake gifts to diehards on April 1st, invite them to fake celebrations, and call these fooled people "April fools" or "bait fishes." From then on, they fooled each other on this day, and it became a popular custom in France over time. The festival spread to Britain in the 18th century and was later brought to the United States by early British immigrants. At first, any American could concoct horrifying news without any moral or legal responsibility, and the government and judicial departments would not pursue it. On the contrary, whoever fabricates the most bizarre lies and deceives people the most will be crowned the winner. This practice has brought a lot of chaos to society, thus causing people's dissatisfaction. People's fooling and deception during the festival is no longer as outrageous as it used to be, but is for the purpose of relaxation and joy. On April Fool's Day, jokes can only be made before 12 noon. This is a strict rule. Anyone who is having fun after noon is a bigger fool than the person he is making fun of. Anyone who jokes after the hour will immediately hit a snag and is looking for trouble. There is a little poem that describes it this way: It's past twelve o'clock on April Fool's Day, and you're a big fool, you're late. Come April Fool's Day next year, you will be the biggest fool. Tracing back to the origin of April Fool's Day, there are roughly the following types: People who advocate reform make fun of the practices of the conservatives, give them fake gifts, and invite them to fake parties. From then on, teasing people on this day became popular. When a person is deceived, the person playing tricks on him will shout loudly: "POISSON D'AVRIL", which means "April Prank". The origin and original meaning of this idiom are no longer clear. 1. In 1582, King Charles IX of France decided to adopt a new reformed calendar - the Gregorian calendar (the universal Gregorian calendar), using New Year's Day as the beginning of the year, changing the past of April 1st as the beginning of the new year. . However, some conservatives oppose this reform and still send New Year's gifts and celebrate the New Year on this day according to the old calendar. Smart and funny people gave them fake gifts on April 1st and invited them to a fake reception. And the conservatives who were deceived were called "April fools" or "baited fish". From then on, people fooled each other on April 1, which became a popular custom in France. At the beginning of the 18th century, the custom of April Fool's Day was spread to Britain, and then brought to the United States by early immigrants from Britain. 2. According to the research of British historians: the origin of "April Fool's Day" comes from the Indian Buddhist saying "reach the other shore". The British Encyclopedia records: "April Fool's Day" is a holiday of lies that first appeared after the religious revolution in the 15th century AD. At that time, King Philip II of Spain once established an "Inquisition". Anyone who was not a Catholic would be considered a heretic and would be sentenced to death on April 1st every year. The subjects felt very frightened, so they took pleasure in telling lies and making fun every day to dilute their fear and hatred of the ruler. Later, it was used for a long time and evolved into today's "April Fool's Day". 3. According to legend, about 1,650 years after Adam, the ancestor of mankind, God destroyed the world with a flood, but only Noah, the descendant of Huide, the third son of Adam, was left. He saved his family with a man-made boat. Life, big and small. After the flood receded slightly, Noah sent out a white dove to explore for a piece of land after the flood receded, because this day happened to be April 1st. Therefore, later generations believe that doing a meaningless thing on this day is like a white dove doing a white job and acting stupidly, which is the origin of "April Fool's Day".

Moving picture 4. According to the records of ancient Roman fragments: Rome held the "Ginger Festival" in early April every year. During the "Ginger Festival" in a certain year, Bai Luosaipinna, the daughter of the god Serice, picked daffodils in Paradise. At that time, he met Prado, the king of Hades. The two fell in love at first sight and expressed their love to each other. Prado married Bailuo Saipinna as the queen of Hades. When the two of them returned to the underworld, Prado sent the ghosts in the underworld to eat and eat. laughed to fool Sherlis, but Sherlis was fooled, so she followed the source of the sound. Therefore, they regard the annual "Manjiang Party" as "April Fool's Day". 5. According to Christians: "April Fool's Day" is to commemorate the day of Jesus' crucifixion. Before Jesus was crucified on the cross, he was forced to run around. Later generations used April 1st as a day to commemorate his innocent death. Crucifying people alive actually contains the meaning of vigilance. 6. April Fool's Day is similar to the ancient Roman Hilaria (March 25) and the Indian Joy Festival (Holi, until March 31). 7. The choice of time is related to the "Spring Equinox". At this time, the weather often changes suddenly, just like nature is fooling humans. 8. There is a folklore in the UK that believes that April Fools' Day is related to a town called "Gotham". Legend has it that there was a tradition in the 13th century that all roads visited by the king would be taken over by the prince. The people of Gotham didn't want to lose their main thoroughfare, so they spread rumors in the hope of stopping the King's inspections. The king then sent an informant to investigate. When the informant arrived in the village, he found that the streets were full of crazy people. The king then gave up the plan of patrolling. So April Fools' Day came to commemorate the lies told by the citizens of Gotham Town. 9. The Country of Clowns Joseph Poskin, emeritus professor of American humor at Boston University, put forward his own opinions on the historical origin of April Fools' Day. He believes that April Fools' Day originated from a joke. In 1983, Poskin stated that the concept of April Fools' Day came from the Roman clowns of Constantine I in Rome in the third to fourth centuries AD. It is said that at that time, the clowns successfully petitioned the ruler, and the ruler allowed them to nominate a member to become the king one day. Therefore, on April 1st, Constantine I handed over the rule of the Roman Empire to one of his clowns, King Cyril. Kujir immediately issued a decree that April 1st would forever be designated as a day of absurdity. According to Poskin, the news agencies at the time were not very interested in the topic. "I think I should have been praised for this bizarre story." Greek legend It is said that April Fool's Day originated from a very famous Greek myth and legend. Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, is a well-known deity in Greece. She has boundless magical power, which can make the land fertile and the crops abundant, or she can make the fields barren and all things withered. She is also one of the most revered goddesses among the Greek gods. Zeus, the king of gods, is her brother and her husband. This identity alone is enough to make the gods bow at her feet. However, the life of this powerful goddess was not perfect. Relying on his status as the God King, Zeus flirted with women everywhere and had many romantic affairs, which brought endless troubles to Demeter. The only thing that allowed her to enjoy the joy of life was her daughter Persephone, a smart, beautiful, innocent and lively girl she had with Zeus. With her, no one would be sad or sad. On this day, Hades, the king of Hades, was driving around Sicily, and happened to be seen by Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, walking in the clouds. At the same time, she saw Persepho who was walking in the fields. Nirvana, as well as her partners Athena, the goddess of war, and Artemis, the goddess of hunting. As soon as she saw these people, Aphrodite became furious. These men and women never talk about love or marriage. Does she still have the status of the god of love in their eyes? Athena and Artemis are famous chaste goddesses, and both are famous for their strong martial arts and vast supernatural powers, so it is better not to mess with them. But there is no need to be polite to this little girl Persephone. So, Aphrodite, with a sacred halo dangling on her head, called her son? The little god of love, Eros, said to him: "Look, how do these people treat love? If humans and gods all learn from them, how can we rule the world? Come on, give Hades a shot. Arrow, make him fall madly in love with Persephone!" Eros is a perfect marksman. He bent his bow and shot hard, an invisible arrow of lust piercing Hades' heart. Then, he followed Aphrodite and walked away, waiting to watch the show.

Sure enough, after being hit by the arrow, Hades developed an unforgettable love for Persephone. But he understood very well that this famous beauty would never be willing to give up the sunny earth and sky and follow him to the dark Hades. So he found his brother? Zeus, the king of the gods, asked him to take the decision to marry his daughter to Hades. "This...I can't make the decision," the Lord of the Gods said thoughtfully, "You also know that Demeter is very difficult to deal with. However, if you have the ability to snatch Persephone away, I will No objection." Hades was filled with joy after receiving the tacit approval and hint from the God King, and he immediately returned to the underworld and prepared to snatch the bride. One day, when Persephone was bending down to pick a wild flower in the field, a wide crack suddenly opened in the ground. Then, a gleaming golden car rushed to the ground, and the driver was the majestic Pluto. Without any explanation, he picked up Persephone and put her on the seat next to him. With a shout, the carriage sank into the ground at an unreachable speed. The cracked earth suddenly closed up, and the sun was still bright and the grass was green. Except for the sound of Persephone's cry for help echoing in the sky, it seemed like nothing had happened. Demeter heard her daughter's heart-wrenching cry for help from a very far away place. But when she flew back as fast as she could, her daughter was gone. She only knew that her daughter had been kidnapped by a "robber", but there was no clue as to who the robber was. Those gods who knew Persephone's whereabouts remained silent. They knew the background of this matter. Zeus and Hades were not easy to mess with, and no one wanted to get into trouble. Several gods were anxiously questioned by the police, and they also talked nonsense about east, west, north and south. The goddess followed their instructions and ran around like a headless fly. Needless to say, these treks turned out to be in vain. However, her love for her daughter prompted Demeter to search endlessly. No matter what any god said, she believed it. Although later facts proved that those were complete lies. In desperation, she lit two pine torches in the unfathomable Etna crater, illuminating the whole world. Since then, neither the goddess of dawn nor the goddess of night has been seen sitting down to rest for a moment. In this way, Demeter traveled to every corner of the world. However, her daughter became like water vapor and floating clouds, and there was still no trace. The gods gradually turned from sympathy to disgust towards her. Because this "madwoman" is looking for her daughter, she has disturbed the world without a moment of peace. They became more and more amused by her, pointing sometimes to the southeast, sometimes to the northwest, just to take her away and live a peaceful life for a few days. Finally, Demeter had no choice but to drag her tired body back to Sicily, where Persephone disappeared. After running around for so many days, you don’t even know who the culprit is. You can imagine the goddess’s anger. So, she took out all her grievances on the Sicilian farmers. She killed all the cattle on the island, ordered the land to be as hard as steel, sealed the seeds in the ground, and made all the plants turn yellow and wither. This vast island was devastated and starved to death. Seeing that she was making such a big fuss, Zeus "kindly" advised her to look elsewhere and not take it out on the innocent peasants. Unaware of the deception, Demeter once again embarked on a journey of sightseeing. This is a terrible situation. Countless places have become barren of harvests due to the goddess's wrath, and there is a desperate atmosphere of famine and famine everywhere. When she realized that she had fallen in love with her husband again, she calmed down and thought about what to do. Unintentionally, she raised her head and saw the sun god Helios driving a golden chariot in the vast space. Sri Lanka. It suddenly occurred to me that he was the only one who was above everything, could see everything clearly, and nothing that happened in the world could escape his eyes. Then, holding a torch in hand, he flew to Helios and asked him for guidance. The great sun god sympathized with the goddess's plight and did not need to fear the power of Pluto. Moreover, he did not want Demeter to continue to make such a fuss and let the gods laugh and the common people suffer, so he described the situation of Hades' bride-robbing in detail. Demeter suddenly realized, but it was too late. At this moment, Persephone, under the coercion and inducement of Hades, had become the noble queen of the underworld and could no longer reunite with her mother on earth. What's more, no matter how powerful Demeter was, she couldn't take her daughter away from Hades. When Myrter knew that she had been deceived and fooled by the gods, her resentment and anger deepened. She simply issued an order to let all the plants in the world wither, all crops to die, and no trace of green to appear on the earth.

He hid in a remote place and never showed up again. As a result, everything in heaven and earth was in chaos. The people have no food to eat, and thousands of people starve to death every day. Crowds of dead souls swarmed into Hades, making noisy noises that made Hades upset and embarrassed. Because the gods could not get the sacrifices and gifts from the world, they were all starved to death. Zeus had no choice but to let Persephone live in Hades for 1/3 of the year and return to the human world for 2/3 to serve her mother. From now on, whenever Persephone stayed in the underworld, Demeter would be gloomy and the earth would be in depression. Once her daughter is reunited with her, the goddess will beam with joy, and the world will once again be full of vitality, with vegetation reviving and flowers blooming. It is obvious in this story that Demeter is a complete fool. She did not know the trick of the god of love, nor the complicity of her husband and Hades. After the incident, she was surrounded by the gods, and was repeatedly deceived and teased. Since then, people have established April Fools' Day, using white lies to warn those who think they are smart not to do stupid things that make people laugh because of their gullibility.