‘April is the cruellest month stirring…” wrote Wasteland poet TS Eliot. But for many all over the world, the month starts as a “Fun Day”, or April Fools’ Day. Making fun of others, playing a prank, even giving fake news, are all taken in with good humour.

According to popular beliefs, the early practices originated in France. It was the first country in Europe to implement Pope Gregory XIII’s order of replacing the old Julian calendar with the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.

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New Year’s Day was originally celebrated around April 1 as an advent of spring. With introduction of the Gregorian Calendar, the date for New Year moved to 1 January.

Many people, who either refused to acknowledge the new date, or were unaware about the change, continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on the old date. This prompted others to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on fool’s errands. Eventually it became a ritual and spread throughout Europe.

However, this theory has been questioned by many who dismiss it for lack of evidence. As proof, they point out that while England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, the tradition of April Fools’ Day was already well established there by then.

Constantine and Kugel

Another theory states that the tradition of April Fools’ Day dates back to the time of Constantine the Great and one of his court jesters, Kugel. Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University was invited by the public relations team at the University to pitch in as an expert and speak on the origin of April Fools’ Day.

Boskin told his audience that when a group of court jesters told Constantine that they could rule the kingdom better than him, he was amused and allowed a jester named Kugel to rule for a day. King Kugel, having ascended the throne, passed a proclamation calling for a celebration of absurdity on 1 April. Later, it became an official event.

Sounds plausible? Associated Press thought so and ran the story. It took them a couple of weeks to realise that Boskin had played a hoax on them. “In a way, it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humour,” he told AP.

Boskin was accused of ruining the life of a young reporter working for AP, but he has since used the story as an example to teach his students the importance of cross-checking facts.

Up in the sky

Way back in the late Eighties or could be the early Nineties too, The Statesman, informed its readers about an alien invasion that was going to take place on the midnight of 1 April.

The newspaper in a well crafted piece with convincing images in its Sunday supplement Miscellany ahead of All Fools Day urged readers to look up in the sky that night when the aliens would land. As luck would have it, many unsuspecting readers fell for the bait.

“Since then, many Indian news outlets have tried to fool its readers/viewers, but haven’t been able to emulate The Statesman’s skill in presentation of the news or its success. It’s difficult to forget about that prank,” says senior journalist Sujoy Dhar, who was in his sophomore year then.

Instant Colour TV

However many old timers in Europe recall how in the early 1960s, the Swedish national broadcaster had fooled people when they announced that new technology would help owners of black and white TV sets to convert them into colour sets by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen.

At the time, SVT (Sveriges Television) was the only television channel in Sweden. The broadcast was in black and white only.

Well, it took almost eight more years for people to watch colour TV in Europe when colour transmission began in 1970.

The 1962 hoax transmission by the broadcaster of Sweden can still be watched on YouTube!

Of cockroaches and lizards

Among other things, Krishnanagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district is famous for its clay craft. In medieval times, a common practice among the natives was pranking relatives using objects made of clay. These objects, mostly resembled food (fruits, sea food) and insects, and due to the artistry, they looked life-like.

Reminiscing about a prank she pulled on her colleagues once in Mumbai, travel writer Uttara Gangopadhyay shares, “It was April Fools’ Day and I could not resist taking to office a pair of clay cockroaches and a lizard that I had at home. I went early and placed them on the desktop keyboards and inside files at random.

Slowly people started trickling in, when suddenly the morning quiet was torn by a shrill cry. The lizard was discovered. The colleague who discovered it on her keyboard nearly fainted while others tried to shoo it from far. And as luck would have it, one of the cockroaches was discovered too – another ear piercing cry while others rushed out trying to distance themselves from the offending insect.

Finally, a brave heart, armed with a long plastic ruler tried to shoo away the lizard, which refused to move. Some wondered if it was dead when suddenly someone tried to slide it off the keyboard by tilting it.

It was then they discovered that it was made of clay. Somebody similarly hit at the cockroach and its clay identity established. Was she caught? Yes, and she still has them!

A ‘sweet’ prank

The renowned Jolbhora Sandesh of Bengal may find takers aplenty, but do you know how it came into existence? It was born due to one’s desire to fool an unsuspecting dear relative. The year was 1818.

According to descendants of the famous confectioner Modak, upon receiving instructions from the zamindar’s wife, confectioner Surya Kumar Modak with his son Siddeshwar got down to work.

The instructions were clear, the mother-in-law wanted to play a prank on her new son-in-law but wanted it to be subtle.

Modak came up with the idea of filling a large ‘Talsansh’ (a traditional Bengali dry sweetmeat) with rosewater and sweet syrup and it was presented to the new groom. As he took a bite, the water-filled centre crumbled, drenching his panjabi (Bengali style kurta). What followed was a loud cheer from the mother-in-law. The rest is history.

Though the incident took place much before April Fools’ Day arrived in the country via the colonialists and gained a following, it remains a classic case of perfect execution of a prank.

Trans World Features