© Laura Chouette via Unsplash
April 1, now synonymous with jokes and pranks, is celebrated in numerous countries with the tradition of the April Fool's Day (Pescado de Abril). The custom links different cultures, from Germany to Portugal, from France to Great Britain and on to the United States, India and Japan. Everywhere, the first day of April is the perfect time to prank someone.
But why is it actually called "April fools" or "April Fish Day" in France? And where did this tradition come from? The truth is that the origin of this custom is not entirely clear. The name refers to the way fish are easily hooked, just like a "victim" who willingly allows itself to be fooled. Yet the origin of this custom seems to be traced to a series of legends and folk tales that vary from culture to culture.
The history of the April Fool's Day and why we prank
One of the most accepted theories links the April Fool's Day to the spring equinox, which falls between March 20 and 21, and which in ancient times marked the beginning of New Year's celebrations until the Gregorian calendar moved New Year to January 1.
Celebrations of this kind of New Year lasted until April 1. On that date in France, for example, people exchanged empty gift boxes. From the France of King Charles IX and the Germany of the Habsburgs, the tradition then spread to England and the rest of Europe in the 18th century.
In Italy, the custom of pranking each other on April 1 dates back to the years between 1860 and 1880. The first city to embrace the French tradition was Genoa, where the custom first gained a foothold among the middle and upper classes and then spread to the rest of the population.
Origins in antiquity?
But there are those who argue that the origins of the April Fool's Day go back even further, for example to Ancient Rome, just after the Iden of March. At the time, peasants organized festivals in honor of the goddess Cybele, protector of animals and wild places. Those celebrations lasted several days and were accompanied by dancing and ritual songs. Some historians see similarities between these festivities and our current April Fool's Day, as even then people were in the habit of fooling friends with all sorts of pranks.
According to others, the roots of the April Fool's Day are said to reach as far back as Ancient Egypt. Mark Antony is said to have asked a servant to attach a huge fish to his fishing rod in order to win a fishing contest and impress Cleopatra. But she caught on to the deception and allegedly replaced the fish with a small, fake one.
And so the tradition of pranking was born and the history of April 1 is linked to the healthy habit of making fun of each other, just a little.
(©Euronews 2026 / Managing Editor: Selma Keshkire - The Press Junction /Picture: Laura Chouette via Unsplash)