10 Interesting Facts About April Fools' Day

The lightest day of the year is All Fools' Day, also known as April Fool's Day. It's all about pulling practical jokes on the people we care about and making them look foolish, so how could it not be? The best thing is that no one takes offence. It does indeed celebrate ignorance. However, where, when, and how did it all begin? Let's look for some fascinating information about this amusing day:

1. Hilaria was a holiday that was celebrated in ancient Rome and was akin to April Fool's Day today.

2. Poisson d'Avril, which translates loosely to "April Fish," is a popular custom observed in France wherein participants place paper on each other's backs. 

3. When Google first released Gmail on April 1, 2004, everyone thought it was a joke.

4. April 1st is not a holiday observed by the Portuguese people. Rather, they use the Sunday and Monday preceding Lent to hurl flour at one another.

5. The name of the holiday, Hunt the Gowk Day, originated in Scotland. The word "gawk" refers to a fool. Someone who wants to trick the messenger dispatched someone to deliver a message to someone else.

6. In certain nations, jokes and practical jokes must end by noon, or 12 p.m.

7. The BBC carried out its hilarious practical jokes in 2008 and disseminated the erroneous report that penguins in Antarctica had begun to fly. 

8. A man named Richard Dimbleby claimed that spaghetti is grown on trees during a BBC programme in 1957, which is considered one of the greatest April Fools' Day jokes ever.

9. Historians have suggested that April Fools' Day originated as early as 1582. But nobody can be certain.

10. There is a well-known theory that explains this yearly custom: there were people who were unaware that the Pope had switched France to a Roman calendar. As a result, they continued to celebrate April 1st as the New Year. As a result of other people referring to them as idiots, this day was created.