It is still early morning and Tia is sneaking around Tofu’s room
She puts a beautifully wrapped gift box on his desk
The calendar on the wall says 1st of April
She sneaks out again, hides and waits for Tofu to get up.
Tofu gets up, sees the box and gets very excited.
Oh wow! What’s that?
is it a gift for me!
I wonder who it’s from!
Let me open it and see.
Huh?
It’s empty
Oh, sweet Tofu. Its so easy to prank you!
Oh
You did this, Tia? Why would you do such a mean thing to me?
Oh, cheer up Tofu! It’s April Fool’s Day!
I can’t cheer up after what you just did to me Tia.
and also, I don’t know what April Fool’s Day is.
Okay, let me tell you about it
maybe then you won’t feel so bad about my little prank Tofu
There are so many different stories about how 1st April
came to be celebrated as April Fool’s Day.
But the most widespread one is about the calendar.
In the year 1582
Pope Gregory the XIII introduced a new calendar
the Gregorian calendar.
This calendar started the New Year on the 1st of January.
But back then information took time to spread.
Remember, there was no Internet or phone back then!
So, for a long time, many people
didn’t know about the change in the calendar
and many others who knew about it
refused to accept the new calendar.
These people continued to celebrate the New Year’s Day on 1st of April.
The people who had accepted the new calendar
now started making fun of these non-believers.
They would lead them to believe in things that did not exist
or even send them on fool’s errands
errands that didn’t exist!
Eventually, the new calendar was accepted worldwide
but the pranks stayed on.
Friends
siblings
relatives
and even parents often play tricks on their loved ones on 1st April.
All the pranks are just for harmless fun and never to hurt anyone.
They usually end with the pranksters shouting “April Fool!”
and peels of laughter from everywhere!
So you see, Tofu
pranking you was a part of the celebration.
I don’t care. I am really upset with what you did with me, Tia.
Oh, no Tofu. I am really sorry.
I didn’t think you would feel so bad
What can I do to make it up to you?
Just accept that I made a better April Fool of you Tia!
You were pretending to be angry with me!
Yes, I was!
I guess I should be more careful around you today then.
Yes…you should!