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April Fools >>>
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By Marie Therese and Michelle Tan • Urbanwire
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You'd think the people around you were mature enough not to resort to some juvenile prank just so they could catch you looking foolish and gleefully call out "April Fool's!" to you. Marie Therese and Michelle Tan look into the day of sanctioned practical jokes. Origins of April Fool's Day There are many origins of April Fool's day, but one theory keeps being mentioned. According to this website, April Fool's Day was originally New Year's Day in the 1500s. However, the Pope of that era, Pope Gregory, made a new calendar whereby New Year's Day was henceforth on Jan 1. Not many people heard of this change, as there was no media to pass the word around then, and not many got used to this idea, thus sticking with Apr 1 as New Year's Day. Therefore, they were called 'April Fools' and were played tricks upon. April Fool's day around the world If you feel that's not reason enough for the day to be as universal as it is, it's because other factors coincidentally gave birth to this tradition. The Scottish and French are believed to pull pranks this day to reflect the feelings of spring and sexual licence that the day used to be associated with. Together with "the Druid priest", they attempt to deceive demons, which will trouble those who want to have children. The Roman festival of "Cerealia" in the beginning of April tells of how the goddess Ceres hears the echo of her daughter Prosperpina's cry for help, as she was kidnapped to the "underworld" by Pluto. However, her efforts to find her are foolish as it's not possible to search for an echo. A theory believed that the Hindu festival of Holi (or Huli) has something to do with April Fool's origin. People usually get very excited about the "spring fertility festival", which lasts 5 days and has non-stop dancing and bonfires. Possibly to keep themselves amused, on the last day of this festival (Mar 31) people are made to run useless errands.
Do you know that Mexico celebrates April Fool's on Dec 28? Yes, and you can't borrow anything on that day because they believe it doesn't have to be returned. What you can expect is to receive a box of candies, which only contains a note to tell you that you've been fooled! Says 19-year-old Spaniard Emilio Pitarch, "There was one time when I was at the disco and this girl thought I was gonna ask her to dance with me, which I did, but when the lights went out, I passed her to my friend!" Some people just can't get enough of April Fool's. This day of jokes is celebrated twice on Apr 1 and Apr 31 in Germany and Norway!
German student Chris Schoenitz, 18, says, "Many people think Germans don't have a sense of humour because we look cold and expressionless. But actually we get into good fun too! I pretend to not understand English when tourists ask me stuff. And then I'll surprise them with my English! It can be really funny." Memorable experiences You probably have at least 1 good story to share. UrbanWire.com spoke to some of our favourite tricksters and conned about some of their unforgettable moments. What were some of the best April Fool's day jokes you've played on someone? "When I
told my friend to come closer, [because] I have something to tell
you, then instead of saying anything I pulled her ear." "I told
a friend that his zip was down… but actually he was wearing
button fly jeans! He believed me - he actually looked down!" "I and
my friends tied up another friend to his bed while he was sleeping
and cut up a bit of his hair." "When I
was in Primary 6, my Tamil language teacher said that all of us
were supposed to come up with something to perform during assembly.
Most of us didn't believe her, but she said that it was the principal's
instructions. She sounded so convincing. We all went home believing
we had to come up with something but the next day she told us it
was an April Fool's joke." "In primary
school, I put a water bag filled with flour in my classmate's bag.
I didn't tighten the bag, and placed the string on his shoulder.
When he pulled the string, [the contents] fell into the inside of
his bag. Then he shouted…, 'My bag is full of flour! Who did
this?!' I just diam diam." (Malay for 'kept quiet'.) "A few
years back 1 of my polymates told me that a lecturer wanted to see
me regarding my being missing during projects. What happened was
that they arranged a meeting with the lecturer telling him I needed
to see him regarding some project deadline extension and being the
apologetic fellow, I kept saying sorry to her regarding me being
MIA (missing in action). And the lecturer thought I was so sincere
in asking for an extension that he agreed. Later I realised I was
being …[fooled]. And guess what, that was April Fool's day.
How lucky…." "My friend
Jason said that there's this place that sold good chicken rice around
Telok Blangah. So we all decided to go to this place, and alighted
at a certain bus stop and walked from there. We kept on walking
for more than an hour, when he told us it was a joke. Where we were
walking was nowhere near the place. And by the time we finally reached
the place, it was closed. We all were pissed." April Fool's jokes websites
Need some other ideas or new inspiration to trick your cynical and well-read friends? Here are a few that a handful of websites have unearthed. http://strangereports.com/ allows you to trick your friends into believing that they have made the news! http://www.april-fools.us/ has some interesting real life April Fool's Day stories. http://nurseryphotos.com/ lets your friends believe that they can find their baby photos online. http://monitorcamera.com/ will take a picture of you online! Or not. |
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