Celebration of April Fools’ Day: A casual glance

Gautam Ganguly

(gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)

‘April Fool’s Day’ is celebrated across the world when peole play practical jokes, pranks, and hoaxes on each other, good-humoredly and devoid of any malice. It is one of the most lighthearted days of the year when humour reigns supreme and in abundance. The origin of the celebration of the day is uncertain. Among the numerous explanations given by historians and social scientists about the origin of the popular celebration, the most accepted one has been given by Prof. Baskin, the eminent historian at Boston University. The day is also described as ‘all fools’ day’.

According to Prof. Baskin, the practice began during the reign of the Roman king, Constantine. A group of court jesters and fools had told the emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. All those present in the court burst out in laughter upon hearing the remarks. The emperor, too, mockingly offered to relinquish his throne for one day in response to the comments. Kugel, one of the court jesters, was made the emperor for one day, which incidentally fell on the first day of April. To quote Professor Baskin, “Kugel had passed an edict calling for absurdity on the day. And from that day onwards, in keeping with the edict, the custom became an annual event.”

Irrespective of the lack of unanimity of opinion about the origin of April Fools’ Day, the fact remains that the entire world has been celebrating the day with fun and frolic since time immemorial. William Hazlitt, the famous thinker, puts it this way: “Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps.’ 

Sir Winston Churchill, once wishing the best on ‘April Fools’ Day’, had remarked pungently, “The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right at times!”

One of the all-time best April fool pranks dates back to April 1, 1878, when the famous  ‘New York Times’ published the breaking news that Thomas Alva Edison had invented a machine that could transform soil into cereal and water into wine. It needs no reiteration that after Thomas Edison invented the telephone in 1877, people across the world became admirers of the genius. Therefore, the news of the invention of the machine was widely believed. The thinkers attributed that the invention leading to the transformation of soil into cereal would go a long way in reducing hunger around the world. The newspaper, however, issued clarification the following day that they had taken their esteemed readers for a ride on ‘All Fools Day’.

On April 1, 1975, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) announced that the country would soon be converting to “metric time.” Under the new system, there would be 100 seconds to a minute, 100 minutes to an hour, and one day would comprise 20 hours. The news had left the Australians flabbergasted. Several callers, stunned by the news, had even lambasted the radio station to explain how they would convert their newly purchased expensive digital clock to’metric  time’? The radio station, after noon, reminded all the puzzled listeners that the practical joke was made in keeping with the customary practice of merry-making.

‘Google’, famous for making pranks and innovative jokes on April 1, had sought to take a break in 2021 in view of the ‘Corona Virus’ pandemic afflicting mankind. In an emotional message, ‘Google’ has declared, ‘Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so let’s save the jokes for next April’’. 

Saurav Ganguly has recalled that it was during a low phase in Sourav’s career that he was not able to score when Sachin and Harbhajan decided to play an April Fool’s prank on him. They came up with a fake newspaper article that said that Sourav was unhappy and had scolded everyone on the team. Saurav was hugely upset and decided to resign from the captainship. Then, amidst laughter all around, Harbhajan said that it was a joke. Saurav admitted that the prank elevated his low morale, and he regained his batting form.

Much to the chagrin of his countless admirers around the world, Roger Federer announced his retirement from professional tennis on April 1, 2022. Subsequent confirmation of retirement amounts to inflicting the deadliest blow to his  millions of connoisseurs by the tennis legend on  ‘All Fools’ ‘day’.

In the year 2018, Chetan Bhagat, the celebrated writer, tweeted that he would join Congress. “The country needs to be fixed’, were the words that raised tumultuous reactions from all corners. Chetan’s brilliantly witty words went above and beyond the and beyond the heads of many. However, Chetan had pulled a fast joke on April Fool’s Day.

While Bollywood is replete with many hilarious April Fool anecdotes, the one by critically acclaimed Padmabhusan award-winning actor Anupam Kher was simply outstanding. In the year 1990, Anupam Kher stunned the connoisseurs by posing as the late Sri Devi’s sister in a famous film magazine, with an obvious collaboration with the editor of the magazine. When the edition was published, it left everyone in shock and split. Nobody could believe that it was Anupam Kher. The positive view is that April Fools’ can be good for one’s health because it encourages “jokes, hoaxes, and pranks, and brings all the benefits of laughter, including stress relief and reducing strain on the heart”.