April Fools' Day...it's a storied tradition wherein anyone, from friends, lovers, roommates, or even giant corporations, all want to have a little fun and make a jest or pull a prank. Oddly enough, many people still get fooled by large-scale media reports of silly things, and take them as truth. Always check the date on those articles.
Where did April Fools' Day originate, and why? It has been speculated that it originated in older times, after the switch to the Gregorian calendar by order of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, and those still using the old calendar were referred to as April Fools, as they did not know it had changed. However, in Geoff Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, from 1392, he references, "Since March began thirty days and two," making it April 1st, a fox played a trick on a rooster.
Further, the French poet Eloy d'Amerval wrote of a similar kind of day for pranks in 1508, preceding the Pope's calendar. It has been speculated that April Fools' originated because, during the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on the 25th of March in most European towns as a holiday week that ended on April 1st. Those people who celebrated New Year's Day on January 1st (as was done in cities, though not villages or towns) caused townsfolk to jest and jape at those who did so.
In Iran, formerly Persia, the tradition of pranking and making jokes dates back to quite literally 536 BC, during the Achaemenid Empire. It was called the "lie of thirteen," as it was 13 days after Persian New Year...which is close enough. Despite being thought of as a little strict and buttoned-up, Iranians still pull pranks on one another to this day.
Most of Europe, Scandinavia, and even Russia, Ukraine, and other Slavic countries practice some form of foolishness on April 1st. Even in some Asian countries, it is a thing. In Japan, they will make jokes, and in China, due to the influence of foreign teachers joking and pranking their students, a generation of Chinese kids grew up to know the deal with April 1st. That said, the Chinese government insists that people not play pranks, but for the last 34 years, they have continued to do so.
Now, we are going to see some of the best historical pranks (listed in no particular order).
The Brits kind of owned this whole pranking thing, going up to the royalty. In 1856, a prominent journalistic publication distributed a series of cards, which invited the common public to come to the Tower of London and watch the guard wash the Imperial Lions. Naturally, no such thing happened, as they do not keep lions, and they do not have the Palace Guard wash them. Throngs of hundreds turned up to see this alleged spectacle, only to be disappointed, as they'd been clowned. That said, I can think of no reason why the amazingly wealthy British royalty could not buy some lions and wash them, making truth out of a centuries-old prank. This would—in essence—be a reverse prank, thus making it even better.
Back when Pluto was still considered a planet and not our solar system's red-headed stepchild, famed astronomer Patrick Moore laid the seeds for a delightful prank. He had a broadcast, and told listeners that the alignment of Jupiter and Pluto would affect the gravity of our Earth. He was on-air for his show, and at 9:47 a.m., he said, "Jump now!" to experience this gravitic effect. Many did, and many were quite disappointed when they did not vault into the air.
Once again, the Brits are pulling it out. In 1957, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation, their national news service) aired a 3-minute segment on how an early spring affected the Swiss spaghetti crop. They hung limp noodles from the trees and showed peasant people harvesting them into baskets. This led many Brits to think that spaghetti was grown on trees, as there was no internet or fact-checking or anything, so people were just saying to themselves, "Oh, that's where they get spaghetti." It was truly a masterwork in the pranking arts.
In 1965, a Copenhagen news journal reported that, according to a new law in Denmark, all dogs were to be painted white to avoid being run over should they tread into traffic. People believed this, and many a poor pooch was spray-painted white.
Speaking of painting animals, the Taipei Times of Taiwan issued a statement in which they decried China (with whom they are not very good friends) for having their famous pandas, which were donated by China to the Taipei Zoo, to just be brown bears painted black-and-white. Naturally, they were indeed real pandas. China did not like this.
The Canucks can joke, too. In 2008, WestJet Airlines advertised their overhead compartments, typically used for baggage, as not only the biggest in the business, but offered them as "sleeper cabins" for an additional $12. Points to Canada. I didn't think you had it in you.
Swedes have their sense of humor. If you've ever hung out with any Swedes, you know they like their jokes. In 1962, before color TV was rolled out to the populace at large, the station Sveriges Television advised people that they could make their black-and-white TV into a color TV by putting a nylon stocking over the screen. A so-called "technical expert" said the mesh would "bend the wavelength" and let the color come through. It did not, but many Swedes were duped by what was the only Swedish television station, and the "expert" spoke with an authoritative voice. Thousands tried, but naturally, it did not work.
In 1993, The China Youth Daily publication jested that PhDs would be exempt from the state's one-child-per-family policy, citing that they needed to provide more intelligent babies. The Chinese government did not like this joke and decried April Fools' Day as Western decadence, not in keeping with the spirit of communism. In conclusion, China just can't take a joke.
Say you're a bored Alaskan. Then, say you have an absolute shitload of used tires. Then, say you charter a helicopter to drop them in the caldera of a long-dormant volcano, Mount Edgecumbe. Then, let's say you set them the fuck on fire and watch the surrounding town go absolutely nuts. When the Coast Guard sent a helicopter to inspect this, it was just a pile of flaming tires, with big white letters spray-painted on the side of the mountain reading "APRIL FOOLS." This was done in 1974 by a logger whose nickname was "Porky." Simulating a volcanic eruption for laughs is next-level if you ask me.
If you're planning or thinking of pranks, then take a lesson here: go big or go home. By the time you read this, it will likely be past April 1st, but in reality, pranking is a year-round activity. Make life more ridiculous, in a delightful way, because the more outlandish it is, the more enjoyable it is. Life should be fun, and we often let this get away from us when we toil and struggle. But trust me, bringing a spark of silliness to an otherwise brutal existence is how you make people have fun. As I always say, the meaning of life is to enjoy it.
-Wombstretcha
Wombstretcha the Magnificent is a serial prankster, tire fire enthusiast, writer, and retired rapper from Portland, OR. He can be found at his website, Wombstretcha.com, on X as @wombstretcha503, and on MeWe and (begrudgingly) Facebook as "Wombstretcha the Magnificent," which is his legal name.
