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It is MUCH too hard for my old eyes to see with all color gone from the game. I am hopeful that this will only last until noon.

Although April fool's day is celebrated in most parts of the world, there are numerous differences in the way some countries approach to this day. For instance, in some countries, the pranks and jokes are allowed only till noon time, and anybody playing a prank after that is termed the fool. In some other countries, like USA, France, and Ireland, the pranks can be played throughout the day. In the US, the day is a joyous affair and lasts all day along. When and how did this peculiar celebration began?

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It's sure been around a long time! And CNE is going by the USA version to leave it on all day!
Origins
An 1857 ticket to "Washing the Lions" at the Tower of London in London. No such event ever took place.

A disputed association between April 1 and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392).[2] In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.[3] Readers apparently understood this line to mean "32 March", i.e. April 1.[citation needed][4] However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing April 1. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon.[5] If so, the passage would have originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May,[6] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381.

In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "Fish of April"), possibly the first reference to the celebration in France.[7] Some writers suggest that April Fools' originated because in the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns,[8] through a holiday that in some areas of France, specifically, ended on April 1,[9][10] and those who celebrated New Year's Eve on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates by the invention of April Fools' Day.[9] The use of January 1 as New Year's Day became common in France only by the mid-16th century,[6] and the date was not adopted officially until 1564, thanks to the Edict of Roussillon.

In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.[6]

In the Netherlands, the origin of April Fools' Day is often attributed to the Dutch victory at Brielle in 1572, where the Spanish Duke Álvarez de Toledo was defeated. "Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril" is a Dutch proverb, which can be translated to: "On the first of April, Alva lost his glasses." In this case, the glasses ("bril" in Dutch) serve as a metaphor for Brielle. This theory, however, provides no explanation for the international celebration of April Fools' Day.

In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the celebration as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.[6] On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".[6]

Although no Biblical scholar or historian are known to have mentioned a relationship, some have expressed the belief that the origins of April Fool's Day may go back to the Genesis flood narrative. In a 1908 edition of the Harper's Weekly cartoonist Bertha R. McDonald wrote:

Authorities gravely back with it to the time of Noah and the ark. The London Public Advertiser of March 13, 1769, printed: "The mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the first day of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch".[11]

560 Posts

I like May Day better where we are supposed to exchange flowers, instead of playing sometimes mean "jokes" on each other.

560 Posts

Yes, some are very funny. But I don't like CNE taking the color from our little world! ;)