The Romans celebrated thier New Year's Day in spring, the unmistakable season of rebirth and renewal , with an eight day revel from March 25 to April 1. This tradition persisted for centuries, until the French King Charles IX altered the calender, officially adopting January 1 as the new New Year's Day. Some people took much longer than others to find out about the change.
And once the news spread, still it was hard for many to fully absorb and adopt the shift. From this confusion sprang the now worldwide custom of marking the old New Year's Day, April 1, with meanspirited pranks.
In France, the prankee has come to be known as a possion d'avril, an April fish: that is, young and naive, easily caught. Poor Robin's Almanack of 1928 detailed the day's trademark "sleeveless errands":
No sooner doth All-Fools' morn approach. But waggs, ere Phoebus mount his gilded coach,
In sholes assemble to employ their sense,
In sending fools to buy intelligence,
One seeks hen's teeth, in farthest part o ' th ' town
Another, pigeon's milk
And once the news spread, still it was hard for many to fully absorb and adopt the shift. From this confusion sprang the now worldwide custom of marking the old New Year's Day, April 1, with meanspirited pranks.
In France, the prankee has come to be known as a possion d'avril, an April fish: that is, young and naive, easily caught. Poor Robin's Almanack of 1928 detailed the day's trademark "sleeveless errands":
No sooner doth All-Fools' morn approach. But waggs, ere Phoebus mount his gilded coach,
In sholes assemble to employ their sense,
In sending fools to buy intelligence,
One seeks hen's teeth, in farthest part o ' th ' town
Another, pigeon's milk
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