today we're looking at april fool's day
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos april 1st or april
fool's day is really an unofficial holiday that is celebrated around the world from the united states
to britain to israel it is a day to play pranks practical jokes and create elaborate hoaxes but
the history of april fool's day goes back many centuries and quite honestly it is unclear as
to where it began one theory as to the origin of april fool's day is that it falls near the vernal
equinox in late march marking the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere some have
suggested that since at times spring comes yet it still feels like winter it might be mother nature
playing a prank on everyone another theory goes back to the ancient romans and their celebration
of hilaria which was celebrated on march 25th and was their celebration of the beginning of spring
the celebration began during the reign of claudius somewhere between ad41 and ad54 as part
of hilarious celebration romans would dress up in disguises play games in the streets and also were
to make fun of their friends and relatives yet another theory contends that april fool's day took
its roots in 1582 when france officially switched from the julian calendar to their gregorian
calendar the julian calendar was first introduced by julius caesar in 46 bc the julian calendar
introduced the leap year every four years to account for the fact that it takes approximately
365 and one-quarter days for the earth to make a full revolution around the sun marking a full
year under the julian calendar the new year was celebrated around the vernal equinox or april 1st
in 1582 pope gregory xiii introduced the gregorian calendar that more accurately established 365.2425
as the amount of time it takes for the earth to go around the sun
under the gregorian calendar new years would be moved to january first
so people that continued to celebrate new year according to the julian calendar on april 1st
were considered to be dumb or april fools one popular way of poking fun at these people was to
put a paper fish on their back that symbolized a foolish fish that was easily caught or was
gullible by the 1700s april fool's day had made its way into england and scotland where there were
gaukey days or hunt the galck galc is the scottish word for cuckoo and and part of the celebration
was sending unknowing individuals on hunts for the galk bird then throughout the 1800s and 1900s
these traditions were brought to the united states as millions of immigrants moved to america
creating the great american melting pot these traditions of april fool's day continued to be
celebrated april fool's day has led to several elaborate or well-known pranks being pulled one
early recorded prank took place in 1749 in london when a british duke bet an earl that he could
sell out a london theater by advertising something outrageous an ad was run in a london newspaper for
a show in which a man would squeeze himself inside of a standard sized bottle and then sing on the
night of the performance the theater was sold out but no performers appeared the crowd was so upset
that they began to riot years later on april 1st 1957 the british broadcasting company reported a
story on their newscast about the exceptionally large spaghetti harvest in toccino switzerland
that year they quickly cut to photos and footage of people picking spaghetti noodles off of trees
many realized immediately that it was a prank but some wrote the news station asking about how to
plant their own spaghetti trees in 1992 national public radio ran a story stating that richard
nixon was going to run for president again they've went so far as to have a richer nixon impersonator
appear on the radio and answer questions from callers this april 1st try not to fall victim to a
wild prank but if you do don't feel too bad as people have been duped by pranks for centuries
on april fool's day so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you