Although no one is sure how April Fool’s Day originated, it is celebrated different ways throughout the world. The United States celebrates April Fool’s Day every April 1st. It is not officially recognized as a holiday, however many celebrate by playing jokes or pulling pranks on their friends and co-workers.
Some cultures recognize it as the first day of spring and certain calendars consider it the first day of the year. One theory is that some refused to follow these calendars and recognized April 1st as the first day of the year, which resulted in them being called an April fool.
Numerous, outlandish pranks have been played out on April 1st by the media. London reported they were going to turn Big Ben into a digital clock which caused an uproar with the citizens.
In 1957, the BBC showed a picture of Swiss Farmers harvesting their Spaghetti Trees and received calls from people wanting to plant their own trees. At that time spaghetti was considered a delicacy and not a widely eaten food.
In 1998, Burger King released a “Left Handed” Whopper stating that the condiments were rotated at a different angle for the ease of the left handed person, which resulted in people requesting the left handed sandwich, as well as people stating they wanted the right handed sandwich.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to “reduce the country’s debt” and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell.”
Here’s a few true facts that happened on April 1st:
1778 – New Orleans businessman Oliver Pollock creates “$” symbol
1946 – Weight Watchers forms
1976 – Stephen Wozniak & Steve Jobs found Apple Computer
While you may not be as creative with your jokes/pranks as others, do what you can to best the other pranksters, and be wary of being labeled the “Fool”.