What's Behind the Name? - April Fools

We begin the month of April with the 'What's Behind the Name?' series with a relevant topic- April Fools Day. Also called All Fools Day, this day is celebrated as a holiday in many countries on 1st April. This day is generally marked by the commission of hoaxes and practical jokes of varying degree on anybody. Now, in this fact, we are going to see how did the April Fools Day get its name and why is it celebrated. There are many theories regarding the queries. I have put 2 existing theories that may be true (I cannot vouch for them, though!) in this post:

1. A well believed theory is that in 1564, France reformed its calendar and switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated on 1st January whereas people then used to celebrate the New Year's day around 1st April. That very year, France adopted the Gregorian Calendar and shifted the New Year's Day to 1st January. According to the legend, many people refused to accept the new date or were not informed of it (as transportation of messages was very slow then) and continued to celebrate the New Year's Day on 1st April. This resulted in other people making fun of them, sending them on 'fool's errands' or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe and then to the world.

2. Another possible theory about the origin of this day is found in a 1508 poem by Eloy d'Amerval, the poem is called 'Le Livre de la deablerie' which is a dialogue between Satan and Lucifer, in which their nefarious plotting of future evil deeds is interrupted periodically by the author, who among other accounts of earthly and divine virtue, records useful information on contemporary musical practice. This historical poem includes the word 'Poisson d'Avril', the french term for 'April Fool' literally meaning 'April Fish'.

But either of the theories, or in fact none of them have been confirmed. The above theories are the most possible ones. More 'What's Behind the Name?' up for tomorrow.