APRIL FOOLS - INFO

MUSEUM CURATOR DISCUSSES WHAT MAKES PRANKS SUCCESSFUL

What does it take to trick people on April Fool's Day? The Museum of Hoaxes curator Alex Boese says it takes a lot of planning. Boese adds people are generally conditioned to believe something before they become skeptical about it. He says pulling a massively successful prank that tricks millions of people is more difficult now with the amount of information available on the Internet and with several cable news outlets. Boese says he does not believe the recession and economic crisis is causing people to lose their sense of humor and become more calloused, citing the "War of the Worlds" broadcast during the Great Depression. He says even though that wasn't an April Fool's Day prank, it is one of the greatest tricks ever played.

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APRIL FOOL'S DAY OFFICIALLY BEGAN IN FRANCE

Unlike most other holidays, just how April Fool's Day, which is also known as "All Fool's Day," began, is not clear. Some historians believe the tradition evolved simultaneously in several cultures at about the same time, linked to the celebrations celebrating the first day of spring. Ancient cultures, like those in Rome and India, celebrated New Year's Day on April 1st because it closely follows the vernal equinox.

France might be able to claim bragging rights to the holiday because the first recorded April Fool's Day was in France in 1582. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days beginning on March 25th and ending April 1st. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced, New Year's Day was moved to January 1st. Since there was no way to inform people living away from cities that the calendar had been changed, for years afterwards, people continued to mark April 1st as the new year. These people were called "fools" and were subject to tricks and ridicule for their mistake. Today school children in France like to tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates and yell "April Fish" when the prank is discovered.

Over time the harassment evolved into a tradition of playing pranks or telling lies on the first day of April. This tradition was gradually carried over into England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. You can thank the Scots for originating the "kick me" sign. That prank had its roots in Scotland where April 1st was devoted to mischief involving the backside of the body. April Fool's Day traditions gradually came to the new world through the colonists who settled in America.

You don't have to worry about having an pranks played on you if you are south of the border on April 1st. In Mexico, they don't celebrate April Fool's Day then, but you might find a "kick me" sign on your back if you go there on December 28th. That's when they celebrate their version of April Fool's Day.

April Fool's Day pranks range from tying someone's shoe laces together, to setting a clock wrong and can even be a widespread prank like when the BBC ran an in-depth documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crops from spaghetti trees. The best news about April Fool's Day could be though, that you don't have to buy a card or gift to remember someone to mark the occasion. So if someone pats you on the back today, it might be in your best interest to check yourself in a mirror.